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Have you read any good books lately? What's on your bookshelf?

We don't belong to any book clubs, but we do a considerable amount of reading or listening to audio books. Since we live on a 44 foot sailboat, we don't have a lot of room, so we have just recently purchased a Kindle, and love it! I think though we need two of them as we are wrangling over who gets to use it next. We read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, classics, mysteries, historical novels, thrillers, adventure, etc. Nothing is out of range.

So let's talk books. Have we read some of the same? What would you recommend to read or stay away from?

Roz's Legend (HR - have read, IP -in progress, R -resource/reference, NY - Not Yet)

Rating (*****Loved it!, ****Liked it, ***Ok, **Not so much, * Ugh)

Here are some books currently on our bookshelf:

Good without God by Greg Epstein, HR****

Godless by Dan Barker, HR*****

Don't Believe Everything you Think by Thomas Kida, IP-***

The Atheist's Bible - Joan Konner - HR, R****

Asimov's Guide to the Bible, Isaac Asimove, IP, R ***

God Made Man (Kindle) - Barbara G. Walker, IP ****

On the fiction side:

Anna Karenina (Kindle) by Tolstoy, HR** (Just finished. Know it's a classic, but geez it was slow for me to read. All of the people are so tortured, particularly the non-believers. I could have saves a lot of time by reading the summary on Wikapedia. What did you think?)

Devine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood (Kindle), HR, ****

The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo (Kindle), Stieg Larsson, IP. (Russ has read the whole series ***** and really enjoyed them)

One for the Money, etc.....by Janet Evanovich, HR, IP ***** I love these sassy, bounty hunter stories featuring Stephanie Plum. I started with number one and am on number 8. I just started reading them on Kindle. The characters are quirky. I love Grandma Mazur. She reminds me of Sophia on the Golden Girls. I love a book that makes me laugh aloud.

Other authors we really enjoy....Robin Cook, Michael Crichton, John LesCroart, John Grisham, Ken Follett (Pillars of the Earth HR***** and World without End HR *****), Jean Auel. I just got the last of the Jean Auel Earths Children books and am looking forward to reading it. I enjoyed "reading" - listening" to the others on audio. It will be a different experience reading this next one on the Kindle. Has anyone read this yet? We have several of these authors on audio books and listen together. It's a great way to spend the evening while on night watch. Stephen King and Dean Koontz give us nightmares!

Your turn!

Tags: atheist, books, bookshelf, library

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Paula T. on May 19, 2011 at 5:35pm

I'm really into Young Adult novels and just finished two by Jack Gantos. I took a YA lit class last winter while working towards my Masters and ended up reading over 50 books last year. I have been in school for the last seven years, so I didn't have time to read anything except textbooks and scholarly articles. Admittedly, I have a number of articles I still want to read about librarianship and some are about atheism.

I'm working on The God Delusion right now and have Hitch-22 and god is Not Great ready once I'm done, plus another three dozen books or so, mostly YA books. I loved Pillars of the Earth and look forward to World Without End. I'm also anxious to read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the others in that series.

Permalink Reply by Sail R's - Roz and Russ Worrall on May 19, 2011 at 9:31pm

Hi Paula,

Was your Masters Degree related to the Young Adult novels? I am not familiar with Jack Gantos, but just looked him up on Google. As a former teacher grades 1-8, it looks like he has a good range of books.

I read the God Delusion a couple of years ago, and left the book at home. It all runs together after awhile. I listened to both Pillars of the Earth and World Without End while commuting to work everyday. Both are great. Let me know when you finish the Girl with Dragon Tattoo and we'll compare our experience.

Permalink Reply by Paula T. on May 20, 2011 at 8:38am

I just completed my Master's of Library and Information Science....so I'm an unemployed librarian :/ At the time I took the class, I wanted to be a children's/youth services librarian, but just completed 20 months on the reference desk of my university's graduate library. While having that position, I decided I want to be an academic librarian. But I still enjoyed the classes I took in children's literature :)

I loved the Jack Henry books by Jack Gantos. I was literally laughing out loud and can't wait to read them again!

Jack Adrift: Fourth Grade without a Clue (2003)

Jack on the Tracks: Four Seasons of Fifth Grade (1999)

Jack's Black Book (1997)

Jack's New Power: Stories from a Caribbean Year (1995)

Heads or Tails: Stories from the Sixth Grade (1994)

Permalink Reply by Sail R's - Roz and Russ Worrall on May 20, 2011 at 9:55pm

Sounds like several of the Judy Blume Books. I used to read these out loud to my students and children. One time I was standing in a long line with the kids reading to them. When the line started to move, I started to put the book away. Several of the adults standing around us groaned. One of them said, "Don't stop now!" Some authors appeal to all age groups.

Permalink Reply by Sail R's - Roz and Russ Worrall on May 19, 2011 at 9:51pm

Hi Caroline,

Since I am much older than you, I have to admit to not knowing any of the books you read except for Peter Pan. I did look up Artemis Fowl's website, and it's very cool. Since you are a grounded atheist, this particular genre looks like a fun escape from reality. My niece is a fundamentalist Christian and doesn't permit her kids to read anything "magical" or "fantasy". I think she is worried that her kids will start comparing fantasies and begin to question the ones in the Bible.

Roz

Permalink Reply by Chris Breman on May 20, 2011 at 9:37am

And wait what happens when the kids find Philip Pullman´s His Dark Materials series! Lovely atheist stories - I still wish I had books like that when I was a kid!

Permalink Reply by Sail R's - Roz and Russ Worrall on May 20, 2011 at 9:57pm

I saw the movie the Golden Compass and was disappointed that it was not going to be followed up.....some dogmatic politicking going on there.

Permalink Reply by Chris Breman on May 21, 2011 at 2:03am

I hated it too when the filmseries weren´t completed! But the books are much better than the film.

Permalink Reply by Sail R's - Roz and Russ Worrall on May 20, 2011 at 10:04pm

I've put book one of Artemis Fowl on my Kindle wishlist.

Permalink Reply by Gecko, Seth...brother of Richie! on May 19, 2011 at 9:13pm

Tacitus..IP

Soldier of Rome 1,2,3,4,.....HR - ****

Ceasar's Commentaries......HR - ***

Volcano Cowboys (2nd reading)..HR ***

Red, Green, Blue Mars.....HR **** I first read these 2 yrs ago and i read bits and pieces almost everyday since.

THis is lately

Permalink Reply by Sail R's - Roz and Russ Worrall on May 19, 2011 at 9:55pm

Looks like you enjoy Roman History. Are these non-fiction or historical novels? What's Volcano Cowboys about? Looks like you are reading it again. Wonder if a second read changes a rating?

Permalink Reply by Gecko, Seth...brother of Richie! on May 20, 2011 at 9:52am

Yes I love history and have neglected ancient history far too long. So Im currently consuming all I can.

Soldier of Rome is an historical fiction series written by James Mace. It follows the life of the fictional Artorious who joins the Legio XX about three years after the militry disaster in the Tuetorburger Wald. It blends factual history with fiction and is very entertaining.

Volcano Cowboys is that RARE (as far as I been able to tell) work of science and history. The full title is Volcano Caowboys: The Rocky Evolution of a dangerous Science. It tells the story of the volcanologists who were studing Mt St Helens, and later Penatubo and had the stressful and unprecidented jobs of advising clueless govt officials of the actions that needed to be taken. It covers the inner politics at the USGS, the on going battles between desk bound geologists and those in the field climbing a shaking volcano. Its a "cant put it down read". And I must have not hit the key right because it is 4 stars!