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Golden Oldies out there...what books are you reading right now?


Guest Jetsun Milarepa

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Guest Jetsun Milarepa

Hi,

I've been reading books that normally wouldn't interest me, but have grown into the stories and looking forward to more of the same. What books are you all reading?

Bear Grylls novel about a special forces operative and Val McDermid's 'Wire in the blood' series have gotten my attention. Both are action murder/mystery themes. I usually go for historical fiction, especially Roman era stuff.

So, what's your favourite read?

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One Winged Angel

If I could possibly be so bold as to recommend one of own novels, although it may not be to your taste. It is a self published book entitled "The Wishing Lake", and is a psychological thriller with murder mystery elements as well as a mystery surrounding a family tree.

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imnotafreakofnature!

I'm actually a book about asexuality right now entitled The Invisible Orientation by Julie Sondra Decker. Not my usual fare, either, but now that I've discovered asexualtiy, I want to find out all I can about it. :) My usual fare consists more of spiritual books, particularly shamanism. I also love Rainer Maria Rilke and Julia Cameron. I don't read a whole lot of fiction, but when I do, I like a good mystery (Agatha Christie fan :) ). I don't know how I could be such an avid reader all my life and not know about P.G. Wodehouse, but I recently discovered him and LOVE his stuff!

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imnotafreakofnature!

Ooopppppsssssss.........that should say "I'm actually READING a book....." I really need to start proof-reading my posts! lol

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Gentle Giant

I'm nearing the end of reading "Thunder and Rain" by Charles Martin. It's pretty good. Not really what I usually read though. I usually like reading action/adventure thrillers, mysteries, sci-fi and fantasy type stuff.

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sparklingstars

I'm reading two books: Fall of man in Wilmslow, by David Lagercrantz, and The sound of gravel, by Ruth Wariner. The first is a fictionalized account of the suicide of Alan Turing, the British mathematician who worked at Bletchley Park during World War II and basically saved the world, and the second is a memoir by a woman who was raised in a fundamentalist Mormon group.

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Guest Jetsun Milarepa

Hi,

OneWingedAngel, Thanks ,I'll have a look online. sounds like an interesting plotline.

I'mnotafreakofnature, P.G. Wodehouse is really funny, I love his Jeeves and Wooster stuff. It's about time a book on asexuality was distributed. Think I'll get a copy.

Gentlegiant, I don't know Charles Martin, so worth a look.

Sparklingstars, I live near Bletchley Park, so this is interesting to me. They have plans to extend the museum there as a tribute to Alan Turing. Cult memoirs are my thing, I read one called 'Turtle Feet' recently, it was about life inside a Buddhist cult.

I went through a phase of Jodi Picoult, and read just about everything she wrote, then had an attack of Ben Kane, with his Roman Britain stories. Right now, when I finish the Val McDermid book, I don't know what'll be next.

Don't know if it would be worth having some kind of book club on the site, the problem would be the spoilers!

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Sadly, I don't read much anymore. I used to proofread for a profession, and let me tell you, it takes all the joy out of reading for fun. I can no longer read something that has been poorly typeset--it actually pains me!

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Blackthorn

I am reading The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane - about his adventures walking ancient paths around the world.

I have just started The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies. I really enjoyed The Cornish Trilogy and I am sure this will be as good.

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sparklingstars

I went through a phase of Jodi Picoult, and read just about everything she wrote

I loved Jodi Picoult's earlier books, but the last several haven't been nearly as good. Kate Morton and Tana French are two of my favorite authors - have you ever tried them?

(Can you tell I'm a librarian? I love talking about books!)

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I'm currently reading Quiet: The Power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking by Susan Cain, Wisdom of Near-Death Experiences: How understanding NDEs can help us live more fully by Dr. Penny Sartori, and re-reading 1984 by George Orwell.

Next on my to-read list is Illusion Town by Jayne Castle (I like the paranormal aspect of her stories), No Touching by Aileen Deng, Dispatches from the Edge by Anderson Cooper, and re-reading Animal House by George Orwell.

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Autumn Sunrise

sparkling stars and chandrakirti, I'm actually reading The Bletchley Girls by Tessa Dunlop at the moment (it was a Mothers' Day present ). My kids know I'm interested in WW2 stuff, and I'm finding the book very hard to put down :D Trouble is, I keep wanting to know more about the machines and decryption processes they used - the references don't go far enough here, as the book is really social history and the technical aspects are a bit of an aside. Alan Turing is one of my heroes - it's tragic that he lived at a time when sexual orientations were so misunderstood, and the amazing value of the work he did wasn't enough to offset the fact that he was (shock, horror :o ) homosexual. It's nice to know that a memorial for him is being planned, but it would be even nicer to know that he had been honoured in his lifetime and lived a long and happy life :(

The next book waiting for me to read is "Edwardian Farm Rural Life at the Turn of the Century" by Alex Langlands, Ruth Goodman and Peter Ginn. It's based on the TV series in which they starred, which was one of a series of re-enactments of rural life during different periods in Britain.

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imnotafreakofnature!

Hi, again, everybody,

Bought and read just yesterday Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen. It's an award-winning book about a 15-year-old juvenile delinquint from Minneapolis who, after beating a classmate senseless, is given the option of being tried as an adult and going to jail or accepting Circle Justice. The offer is made to him from a Tlingit man even though he's not Native American/First Nation himself. He thinks anything is better than going to jail so accepts Circle Justice, which banishes him to an island off the coast of Alaska for a full year.

I couldn't put it down, but it may not be for people not interested in Native American ways. Or teenage delinquints either. lol

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Guest Jetsun Milarepa

Hi All,

What an interesting mix of reading material!

Sparklingstars ...a genuine librarian! I always wanted to be locked in my library overnight when I was a kid....that and the cheese counter at my local deli would have been paradise. I haven't tried Kate Morton and Tana French yet, but they'll go on the list.

Zoe W Quiet is a brilliant book. we care too much about loudness these days. I prefer the thoughtful measured ways of communicating.

Blackthorn, the Old Ways sounds fantasitc. Having walked the west highland way and the great glen way as well as the pilgrim's way in northern Spain, I'd be treating this as the latest ramblers' guide.

Sorry you've been put off reading Teatree, I guess it comes with the territory of the proofreading world, where you have to read what you wouldn't usually look at. A bit like a busman's holiday, as they say here.

Imnotafreakofnature, this sounds very interesting and hopefully will raise the profile of the first nations.

I've a problem onsite here. Every time I try to 'like' a post, I can't. The computer might have a glitch , or the site. That doesn't mean I haven't been trying !

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Oops, I made a boo-boo. I meant to say Animal Farm by George Orwell. Sorry all.

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Guest Jetsun Milarepa

I'm now reading a book by Paula Hawkins, called 'The Girl on the Train' and it's a gripping tale.

Autumn Sunrise, the Bletchley story is really exciting. Living quite close to the centre, it's amazing what went on in there. Never had a chance to see the latest film with Benedict Cumberbatch in, but it's on the list.

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Blackthorn

I've just read "The Invisible Orientation" as mentioned by Imnotafreakofnature - it is very interesting and informative.

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sparklingstars

I've also read The Invisible Orientation. And there's another book on asexuality by Anthony Bogaert called Understanding Asexuality that is also good, although it's somewhat more scholarly in nature.

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Guest Jetsun Milarepa

I just got a copy of 'the Invisible Orientation' and am halfway through. It's really a complete manual and very useful. I like the idea that researchers are thinking seriously about asexuality, but the thought of it becoming a battleground for the medicalisation of asexuality is a bit off putting. It reminds me of the 'gay gene', 'gay cure' etc.....I like the idea that asexuality is just the 4th orientation as mentioned in the 'invisible orientation'.

It's logical, really- hetero, homo, bi, a. Completes the set!

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Skycaptain

Both are good books. Understanding Asexuality is predominantly the science of Asexuality, The Invisible Orientation is how asexuality affects real humans.

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Chandra, re Roman Britain stories, you might be interested in the Medicus series, about a Roman physician in Britain in the second century -- humorous detective stories.

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My favourite author is Elizabeth Gaskell - she was a contemporary of Jane Austen but wrote about the working classes as well as the upper class. It can be difficult understanding the passages in dialect in 'North and South' but it's a fantastic story. Or there's Mary Barton - she talks about streets in Liverpool that are still there today.

Or there's Haatchi and Little B - a true story of a boy and his three legged dog - but make sure you have tissues at hand

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Guest Jetsun Milarepa

Sally, the Roman/medical stories sound like the ideal for me. I'll pursue them.

Skycaptain, I wonder what the science of asexuality is? I'll get the book and find out.

The book I was reading, the Girl on the train, is going to be made into a film! I just happened to find out by accident yesterday. I thought it would be a great flick as I was reading. A real thriller, with a terrific twist from start to finish.

Elizabeth Gaskell sounds like the socialist of her time, and I bet the stories are not so miserable as Dickens'...

Halfway through the Invisible Orientation...really enlightening. Should be on the reading list for schools and colleges.

Don't know what I'll be reading next...maybe take a trip to the library or charity shops...I find, as an avid reader, these are great resources when I get skint!

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imnotafreakofnature!

Chandrakirti,

I think a book group sounds like a GREAT idea! :D The only problem, with such a varying and wide range of interests as presented here, would be agreeing on a book! lol

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Guest Jetsun Milarepa

I'mnotafreakofnature, when I think of all the possible spoilers in a book club here, it gives me the shivers! haha!

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girlinstory

I'm rereading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. It's my favorite book, and I always reread it once every year or so.

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Guest Jetsun Milarepa

Oooh! Dorien Gray, brilliant! I love all Oscar Wilde's work. he seems to be the most sensitive human being. Evidently Dorien Gray was the outcome of Wilde's discomfort with his homosexuality.

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Blackthorn

Saw on the local news last night that the lifes of the Brontes are being made into a television drama series. The writer is the same one that did Happy Valley - can't remember her name. I didn't watch Happy Valley, but it was supposed to be very good.

I love all the Bronte books, in particular Wuthering Heights - the landscape is one of the main characters in that book :)

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One of my favourite quotes is a line from an Oscar Wilde play (OK, not a book :P ) "To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."

Over the weekend they screened 'Pride and Prejudice' again - the one and only Colin Firth version. When the BBC first announced they were going to do it, they said they were going to 'sex it up' and I was absolutely horrified. Then I saw it and Colin Firth IS Mr Darcy :)

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Fire Monkey

I recently finished Euphoria, by Lily King. It's a novel based very loosely on the life and writings of the anthropologist Margaret Mead.

Also, When breath becomes air by Paul Kalanithi. After earning a master's degree in English literature, he changed course and became a neurosurgeon, only to find out during his residency that he had stage IV lung cancer. He writes eloquently about choosing what is most important in one's life, and living and dying on one's own terms. It's not as grim as it sounds.

One of my favourite quotes is a line from an Oscar Wilde play (OK, not a book :P ) "To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."

"Prism, where is that baby?"

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