What Are You Reading Right Now?

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Comment by Pamela Drake on May 1, 2013 at 12:59pm

At this point it seems as if the US would rather create profit enterprises than working Americans.  Unfortunately, we ARE "judged as a society by how we treat those without a voice" -- by Europeans and Asians.  They're usually amazed when they come here and see peace rallies.

Comment by wiffledust on May 1, 2013 at 12:57pm

YES, pamela!...and how about that judge that was just put away in pennsylvania for jailing kids for money? we have a serious "jailing for profit" problem, and the more it is exposed the better. we should be judged as a society by how we treat those without a voice!

Comment by Pamela Drake on May 1, 2013 at 12:55pm

Thanks for the heads up Cindi, and thanks for the acknowledgement, Wiffle! We are the greatest maker and filler of jails in the Western world and it's time Americans started recognizing that and discussing solutions!

Comment by wiffledust on May 1, 2013 at 12:50pm

thanks for sharing this, cindi! i wouldn't have known it was out there. books like this do sometimes take all our strength to read. but what is the opposite of not learning about injustice? i think it's turning a blind eye. and that is what makes the injustice happen in the first place. so not only thanks for sharing, but thanks for reading!!!

Comment by cindi a morgan on May 1, 2013 at 12:48pm

After buying it months ago, I'm FINALLY about halfway through The New Jim Crow-- Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Hardly a page goes by that I'm not picking up my highlighter and marking a sentence o two that moves me to the core. It's an incredible read-- just wish I didn't feel so overwhelmed by the complete enormity of the injustice. Where does anyone even begin to work towards reform?

Comment by wiffledust on April 27, 2013 at 9:56am

what are you reading, folks? 

Comment by wiffledust on February 17, 2013 at 11:12am

If any of you like design books (far from fiction, i realize)...i recommend interior designer nate berkus' book "the things that matter". nate is extremely honest about what losing his partner in the tsunami has done to him and for him. the book is about surrounding our environment with "the things that matter" and not just "stuff"

Comment by Shara Faskowitz on January 27, 2013 at 9:31pm

Maryann, you'll have to let me know what you think if you read either of them. I just finished rereading Anne Rice's Witching Hour Trilogy (The Witching Hour, Lasher and Taltos) cause I hadn't read them for a few years. Sometimes I want to read for pure escapism and Rice does that well for me. I do get kinda irritated at her abundance of purple prose at times. She writes such gorgeous sentence but sometimes I swear she's getting paid by the word as she meanders and repeats herself. But she's a hell of a storyteller, really good at creating a world and drawing the reader into it. 

Now I need something new to read, and am casting about for a book to fall in love with. I love Dickens and my favorite modern authors are John Irving, TC Boyle and Marge Piercy, among others. I love historical fiction too. I've been thinking about reading Herman Wouk's Winds of War  (and then War and Remembrance, which I've never read. I'm not sure Wouk's style is for me though...Anyone have suggestions? 

Comment by wiffledust on January 26, 2013 at 11:19pm

welcome to the group, cindi! i'm so happy you are reviewing anna quindlen. se is one heck of a writer, isn't she? how is it that she is so good at writing fiction AND amazing essays! so much talent in one honest and wise woman. i really like her. did you happen to see her on one of those 3 hours with the author things on cspan's book thingies? she was amazing!

Comment by cindi a morgan on January 26, 2013 at 10:50pm

Just finished Every Last One by Anna Quindlen. Gripping, violent, heart-wrenching, damnably hard to put down-- It's mind-blowing to think that the same woman can write such disturbing fiction and turn around and create A Short Guide to a Happy Life.

I'm new to this group, but loving it. After reading about halfway through, my Amazon wishlist has doubled in length! Of course, I'm compelled to offer my own favorite non-fiction. Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd details her exploration of a God beyond the traditional paternalistic figure of her upbringing. Kidd was once a contributing editor in for Norman Vincent Peale's magazine Guideposts, but in her 40s she found herself needing to look further. She has become vastly popular for her novels such as Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid's Tale, but Daughter remains my personal favorite.

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