What is everone reading ?

“The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody

Funnier than hell.”

“"what women really want from a sensitive man".”

“Seeds of Change: The Living Treasure- Kenny Ausubel

The story of a few radical conservationists who set about a goal to sell organic seeds and educate people about biodiversity and it's importance.

"Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. convince me that you ahave a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders." Henry David Thoreau”

“oooh... that sounds good! :)

Have you read Botany of Desire?”

“no, but I have read several bio-diversity books at the library (actually just browsing through them) I am already a convert! I planted some heirloom winter wheat up at the cabin, and hope to save the seed next summer. (and feed the chickens)I like buying open-pollinated local seed from organic sources- it helps me feel like i'm contributing to being more of a steward of the land.”

“Ruby,

I highly recommend it, especially if the science of physics and biology is kinda interesting to you.

Its a pretty easy read for such a normally dry and sterile topic.”

“Are you talking about Botany of Desire?

Yes! It was excellent. My dad (who doesn't read) had me reading large portions of the book to him. Fascinating stuff!

4 chapters, each dedicated to an important crop in American history... Tulip, Apple, Potato, Marijuana and the history/developments of each.”

“no, i was talking about "A Short History of Nearly Everything" Bill Bryson

But, I'll check out Botany... next maybe, I'm always looking for the next time absorber.”

“Currently I'm reading:

"All I Really Need To Know I Learned From Trail Talk"”

“I know one book that won't be sitting on my coffee table:

"Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Last Himalayan Kingdom," about the small country nestled between China and India.

At 133 pounds, 5 feet tall and 7 feet wide when opened, and containing enough paper to cover a football field, "Bhutan" is the world's largest published book, according to the "Guinness Book of World Records."”

“huh, big book!”

“I finished "The Winner" by David Baldacci, and put his new book on hold with the library, called "The Hour Game". I saw it in the store, which means it's too late to be close on the list to getting it. Turns out I'm #356, and there are 106 books. This book is his follow up to his previous book called "Split Second" with the same characters.

So now I'm reading Susan Isaacs "Long Time No See". It's her follow up book with the same characters of her book she wrote 20 years ago called "Compromising Positions." She writes books with an amusing edge.

Just finished reading "Dying to Please" bye Linda Howard. She has a lot of steamy sex scenes in her books.”

“Aron Ralston's Between a Rock and a Hard Place. The hiker that amputated his hand. It was pretty good. Scary.”

“I've heard lots of good reviews on that book, Tango! I'll have to pick it up soon.

I'm taking a break from the Dark Tower series to read "Arctic Dreams" by Barry Lopez (non-fiction). If you've ever been curious about ecosystems in the arctic circle, this is a must read. Really neat stuff. I'm learning a lot from it.”

“I just finished Dark Tower VII (the finale of the Stephen King series for those not familiar). Later on today, I'll post the last few paragraphs, just for people like Artex.”

“just started a new Dean Koontz paperback - Odd Thomas. so far its interesting. they guy is a freak though.”

“I\'m finishing up a reread of Doug Peacocks \"Grizzly Years.\" Great book full of bushwhacking stories in Yellowstone and Glacier with tons of grizzly encounters.

Next up will be Rammer Jammer. It\'s about a guy following the Bama football season of \'99 in the RV army that goes to all Bama games. The author works for the New York Times and is a Bama grad. It\'s about Bama in particular and the crazy college football fan culture in general. The title comes from a song that\'s song at the end of most wins and the wins of all rivalry games, \"Hey Vols.....He Vols...rammer jammer, yellow hammer, we just beat the hell out of you...\" Oh how I miss that song. Only sung it once in the last 9 years or so.”

“Hatchet by Gary Paulsen”

“hey Roamy - I read that one too. Wanna know how it ends? ;o) Dean Koontz rules!

I just started "Garden of Beasts" by Jeffrey Deaver.”

“I can't read. Absolutely no time this semester. So, I decided to pick up a book on tape at my local library. I'm listening to The DaVinci Code.

I'd heard soooooooooo much about it. That it was sooooooo awesome.

I guess all that hype caused me to set my expectations too high. Cause, so far, I think it's just OK. I'm entertained. So, it's good enough, I guess.”

“tara - I did DaVinci on books on tape too. I enjoyed it, but didn't get all lathered up like some. Whatcha studying at school?”

“Elementary Education @ U of M. Major in Eng/Lit, Minor in Math. After this I have one last semester. Then, next fall, I'll student teach.

This is the first time I've been a full time student in years. (I quit my job of 8 1/2 years about 3 months ago to finish up.) On top of my full load of courses, I do field work in two elementary schools and a middle school throughout metro Detroit. Schedule's a bit hectic lately. The end of December won't get here soon enough!”

“I know how hard that is, my sister is doing the same thing. She just wasn't happy with the work from her degree field and went back to school at UA at night for Elem Ed. At the beginning of the summer she quit work to load up on classes and is student teaching now. She's been pretty nervous about graduating in Dec and finding a Jan start time on a teaching job. Luckily there are openings at the local school system and she has a 2nd interview next week. I suspect that folks like you and Smiley that go back into teaching wind up being better, more dedicated teachers. Sort of like you chose the field after some life experience instead of just choosing a major out of hs like most of us do.”

“actually, I chose the field long ago. I had been working full time so only taking one class per semester. I've been taking classes, on and off, with the intention of becoming a teacher, since '91.

I'm what they call a career student. lol

Truth is... I'm not 100% sure I'll actually end up teaching when I'm done. I have no doubt I'll be an excellent teacher. But, I have some other ideas for what I might like to do. I may start out teaching til I can get the other stuff going.”

“Now that is a long time taking classes.”

“Books on tape are great. They have to be unabridged though, not the shortened ones. I never go on a trip without 1 or 2 in the car. I do "real" reading during lunch and breaks at work.

The DaVinci Code blew me away. Unlike you Tara, I had low expectations. I read "Angels and Demons" first, which is sort of a prequel to DC. I thought it was an awesome read and was told it was much better than the DC. However, the DC knocked my socks off.”

“Yes, unabridged all the way.”

“When I first started doing books on tape, I picked up a bridged version of Tom CLancy's "Debt of Honor." It was only 4 tapes and I got completely lost within minutes. I took it back to the library, and got the full version, which was over 30 tapes! No wonder I was lost. It's the equivalent of reading the dust jacket and saying you read the book.”

“BOT quit renting books. My boss would get them since we both drive a good bit. We've gone through multiple 10 book series over the years. Great stuff. He just rented a couple of Herman Wuok books and they said since they weren't renting anymore to just keep them. Renting BOT are about the price of buying the hardback. Buying them is very expensive.”

“i almost got The DC the other day! but then i saw this other book i've been wanting to read...The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold. it's really good...about a girl who is murdered in the 70s, and she's in heaven looking down at her family and everything that goes on after her death.”

“Edward Abbey--The Monkey Wrench Gang

Then I think i'm going to pick up Dylans new memoirs”

“THAT is an AWESOME book.


THAT BOOK RULES!!!!!!

Its one of my favorites along with fight club :)

Edward Abbey is my god :)”

“then read "Desert Solitaire" if you haven't already. I'm on my third read of it great book.”

“I\\\'ve just ordered:

When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?
by George Carlin


--Carlin on the media: The media comprises equal parts business, politics, advertising, public relations, and show business. Nice combination. Enough bull for Texas to open a chain of branch offices.

--Carlin on the battle of the sexes: Here\'s all you have to know about men and women: women are crazy, men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid.

--Carlin on hygiene: When did they pass a law that says the people who make my sandwich have to be wearing gloves? I\'m not comfortable with this. I don\'t want glove residue all over my food; it\'s not sanitary. Who knows where these gloves have been?

--Carlin on evasive language: Just to demonstrate how far using euphemisms in language has gone, some psychologists are now actually referring to ugly people as those with \"severe appearance deficits.\" Hey, Doctor. How\'s that for \"denial\"?

--Carlin on politics: No self-respecting politician would ever admit to working in the government. They prefer to think of themselves \"serving the nation.\" To help visualize the service they provide the country, you may wish to picture the things that take place on a stud farm.


It sure beats : Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules: 2002 Revision/2003 Update by The American Library & Wynar\'s Introduction to Cataloging and Classification = zzzzzzzzzzz”

“I also listed to the Da Vinci Code and I really enjoyed it, but everyone has different tastes.

Here is a tip for people that rent a lot of books on tape from BOT. You can give them a set fee for the year, and you are charged a lower price for all their tapes, much lower and they deduct it from your credit line. You can record some CDs too if you can't rent enough in one year to spend all the money you put down.

I get the CDs, and hubby tries to record them. If they record they do, and if they don't they don't. I don't think you can tell by looking at them.”

“LOTR”

“I need to read Mokey Wrench Gang - thanks for the reminder IJ.

I've been reading a few David Sedaris books - Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day. Insightful and hilarious stuff.”

“next on my list is "gun, germs,and steel", then "freedom of the hills"”

“I picked up the Jon Stewart book last night; I got it for 50% off the price. It's set up like the really cheesy history books from high school, with the blurbs in the margins, the chapter intros and summaries. It's pretty darn funny.”

“the daily show jon stewart?”

“Yeah - Jon Stewart's book cracked me up. Where did they get the time to write all of that? I bought it pre-election and thus at fool price :(”

“Books a million had it for 30% off, plus the membership discount which was bumped up to an additional 20% for a one day sale yesterday. $12, not bad.
The snippets in the margins kill me! The one about the smear campaign on Caligula, to make him look like a good guy was hysterical.”

“At Amazon.com, I bought a $17. book (Zen Dog) listed under used, but it said it was new, for $7. and that included shipping. I only bought that as part of a grand prize donation basket I made up for a chihuahua rescue group.

Otherwise, I use the library. I read very fast, so it would cost me a lot of money to buy new or used books.”

“just started "a case of need" by Michael Crichton. I'm on chapter 5 and it's good so far.”

“Smithsonian book of North Americam mammals just arrived. Yay. Other than that, the cloud Atlas.”

“From an initial browse, there appears to be many types of Shrew.”

“A Study in Scarlet, by Sir A. Conan Doyle.”

“Latest edition of Photoshop User, National Geographic and the back of anything in the bathroom.”

“National Geographic back issues should go on a small shelf in the bathroom IJ.”

“NG Adventure and Through Blood and Fire, Selected Civil War Journals of Major General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain”