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Expert Yogi
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| I read a lot more in the summer and of course, am reading more this summer in particular. I have a large stack of books that I am ploughing through right now. Sidney Poitier's "The Measure of a Man" is delightful. He calls it a spiritual autobiograhy. It includes stories of his childhood in the Bahamas, some Hollywood stuff and everyting in between, told from a perspective of what he feels shaped his life and taught him to be a whole human being. It is written quite simply and conversationally - he often ends a sentence with "you know?" or "you follow?" Careful recommending it to Granny as he uses some of "those" words  |
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| Okay, I'll add. I love fiction, it gets me out of my own head more than any other kind of reading. The last book I read that I would definately recommend was the Kite Runner, which I read nonstop in four hours, I just couldn't put it down. I would recommend anything by Louise Erdrich, and also Margaret Atwood, although her later books are way better than her earlier ones. I think she became more confident to tell complicated stories and I love complicated stories. I want my life simple though. 
Thanks for the suggestion Tourist, I haven't read much lately and am ready for a good book. |
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| anything anything anything by Phillippa Gregory.. she a historical novelist... so much fun!! She's best known for "The Other Boleyn Girl".. but that doesn't even scratch the surface.. that book is part of a trilogy, and then she has another trilogy starting with Wideacre and then a two-book series called the Earth series. Most of her books take place in England, with the exception of the last two. She has become one of my favorite authors in the last few years.
Right now, I'm reading Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope". Pretty good, so far.. although, I'm a fiction girl...
Another recent good read- Shantaram (can't think of the author right now)- Grrgory something or other... |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | Shelly, Your're not gonna believe my summer book..... My ongoing book that I'm studying is "Think Harmony with Horses", by Ray Hunt. Small little book chock full of sooo much information!! Then...my sister gave me this book the other day, so, I decided to make it my summer reading. It's called "A Thousand Splendid Suns", by Khaled Hosseini, who is the author of "The Kite Runner". Guess "The Kite Runner" will be my winter book huh?? |
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| ....and the Yoga.com book club was born.
Incidently, 'book club' is number one on the list of words that men never use:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6277306.stm
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| The Kite Runner is one of the big book club books right now. I picked up Water For Elephants, also a book club fave right now, I hear. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | Water for Elephants has a nice ring to it.. wonder what's it about? I think we should start a book club...I've been saying that for a while now. Like for instance, would anyone care to loan me "Kite Runner" this winter?? "A Thousand Splendid Suns" is a story about life in Afghanistan. I can't wait to read this. My sister said it was really good.
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| I've heard of a Thousand Splendid Suns, and I hope to read it as soon as the paperback comes out. Paperbacks are much easier to read in bed. The copy of the Kite Runner I read was my sisters, and knowing her, it's been passed on to someone else by now. The only books I hold onto are my sewing instruction books, cookbooks, and yoga books. The fiction gets passed on to my sister, friends, and now my daughters are reading some of them. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| I haven't started Water for Elephants yet but here is a blurb from Amazon:
From Publishers Weekly
With its spotlight on elephants, Gruen's romantic page-turner hinges on the human-animal bonds that drove her debut and its sequel (Riding Lessons and Flying Changes)—but without the mass appeal that horses hold. The novel, told in flashback by nonagenarian Jacob Jankowski, recounts the wild and wonderful period he spent with the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, a traveling circus he joined during the Great Depression. When 23-year-old Jankowski learns that his parents have been killed in a car crash, leaving him penniless, he drops out of Cornell veterinary school and parlays his expertise with animals into a job with the circus, where he cares for a menagerie of exotic creatures[...] He also falls in love with Marlena, one of the show's star performers—a romance complicated by Marlena's husband, the unbalanced, sadistic circus boss who beats both his wife and the animals Jankowski cares for. Despite her often clichéd prose and the predictability of the story's ending, Gruen skillfully humanizes the midgets, drunks, rubes and freaks who populate her book. |
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| My list:
God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (finished)
God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens (finished)
End of Faith by Sam Harris (finished)
currently:
Evolution: triumph of an idea by Zimmer (midway)
Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (1/3 of the way)
Assault on Reason by Al Gore (2/3 of the way done)
Warped Passages by Lisa Randel (2/3 of the way done)
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| Dear Ollie:
Are these real names? I mean the book names, not the authors?
Gee.
ollie - 2007-07-09 5:26 PM
My list:
God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (finished)
God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens (finished)
End of Faith by Sam Harris (finished)
currently:
Evolution: triumph of an idea by Zimmer (midway)
Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (1/3 of the way)
Assault on Reason by Al Gore (2/3 of the way done)
Warped Passages by Lisa Randel (2/3 of the way done)
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | "Assault on Reason" by Al Gore sounds very interesting as well. I might have to read 3 books by the end of this year...geez, I need more time in the day. |
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| Just sharing my summer reading list, it includes:
currently:
The Tibetan Yoga of Dream and Sleep - Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
The Tantric Path of Purification - Lama Thubten Yeshe
Vivekananda, A Biography - Swami Nikilananda
Kalachakra Tantra - HH Dalai Lama
Tibetan Yoga - Geshe Michael Roach
Yoga Sutra of Patanjali - George Feurstein
Tantra, The Path of Ecstasy - George Feurstein
The Great Book of Tantra - Indra Sinha
wish list:
On The Road - Jack Kerouac
Pilgrim - Richard Gere
Edited by Kaos 2007-07-09 7:05 PM
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I am currently reading the second book on your list and am about through- will probably finish tonight. (Is it easy for you to be reading several books at once? I couldn't do it.)
Uh, it is more a matter of getting sidetracked, distracted, and then returning. Some books I just take on cover to cover, and some I jump between until I am finished. |
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| kulkarnn - 2007-07-09 4:27 PM
Dear Ollie:
Are these real names? I mean the book names, not the authors?
Gee.
Yes, those are real names; each one of the ones I've finished are best sellers.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| I used to always have two or three books on the go at one time. Drove Mr. Tourist nuts  I had two going this week but I am finished the Poitier and now just have a Hollywood kiss and tell by Julia Phillips (produced the Sting and Close Encounters) happening. I might stick with the Hollywood theme and add in Stealing Beauty. I know nothing about it except it was a movie with Liv Tyler.
On The Road - probably the book that got my son started on yoga. He began doing a daily headstand after he read that Kerouac did it |
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| I am not a big reader. May be that is why I have this question.
I am amazed that this Thread says Summer Reading List. I thought one shall read more during Winter and go out more in the Summer. But, may be there is more light (  ) in the Summer.
I am reading Enterprise Architecture books due to my new job I got after waiting for a very long time. |
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| I am the only one who misread the book title: The Assault on Reason by Al Gore as "The assault on reason by Al Gore?"
I've been thinking about reading On the Road (geez, another easily mis-read title) it sounds pretty cool. |
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| kulkarnn - 2007-07-09 10:01 PM
I am not a big reader. May be that is why I have this question.
I am amazed that this Thread says Summer Reading List. I thought one shall read more during Winter and go out more in the Summer. But, may be there is more light ( ) in the Summer.
I am reading Enterprise Architecture books due to my new job I got after waiting for a very long time.
Neel,
Is it related to software system architecture? If so then you will possibly draw lot of fancy UML diagrams, ppts, use cases and will become agile, flexible, extensible, maintainable and extreme
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| As an English teacher by day, I frequently do all my pleasure reading in the summer. Right now, I'm reading _Bury Me Standing_ by Isabel Fonseca, a non-fiction ethnography of the brutalities endured by the Rom people (aka Gypsies). Truly moving, utterly eye-opening, and totally readable. As one who typically prefers fiction, I've gotta confess: This one is at the top of my recommendation list right now.
I'm also reading the Yoga Sutras in translation (again), as well as lots of on-line reading.
While on vacation recently, I was loaned a copy of _Running with Scissors_ and I was offended that I was expected to laugh at such extreme cruelty and horror. My recommendation? Run away from this one.
I saw someone mentioned _Kite Runner_ below; I've taught this text to my intro to lit students with great success. It's a real page-turner, and you'll learn a bit about Pakistani culture and history to boot.
open.hearted.
ali
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Veteran
Posts: 101
| kulkarnn - 2007-07-09 10:01 PM
I am not a big reader. May be that is why I have this question.
I am amazed that this Thread says Summer Reading List. I thought one shall read more during Winter and go out more in the Summer. But, may be there is more light ( ) in the Summer.
I am reading Enterprise Architecture books due to my new job I got after waiting for a very long time.
Neel,
Is it related to software system architecture? If so then you will possibly draw lot of fancy UML diagrams, ppts, use cases and will become agile, flexible, extensible, maintainable and extreme
I guess it would be mainly BPEL4WS diagrams.
Tw
Edited by tweeva 2007-07-10 3:00 AM
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| I am reading Enterprise Architecture by Ross, a professor in MIT. It teaches how to set a foundation for execution in a company before going into anything technical. |
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| Green Jello, please be careful reading On the Road. Maybe try On the Quiet One Way Street first.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| I really don't know when I started reading more in summer. It just evolved. For quite a few years I read for learning in the winter because I was taking courses, then read fiction in the summer. We do fewer scheduled this in the summer, I suppose. And yes, sitting on the beach with a good book is my idea of heaven  |
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| Now, I understand. Thanks.
karmann - 2007-07-10 9:53 AM
kulkarnn - 2007-07-09 11:01 PM
I am amazed that this Thread says Summer Reading List. I thought one shall read more during Winter and go out more in the Summer. But, may be there is more light ( ) in the Summer.
Well, maybe we do read more in the winter; I'm not sure. Collectively speaking, I mean. But there does seem to be a sort of tradition about "summer reading." Perhaps because most students and academic teachers are off for the summer? When I hear about summer reading, I have visions of people lounging on beaches reading.
My favorite magazine, The New Yorker, always puts out a "summer fiction" issue. Not sure how long it's had this tradition though. At some point they started doing a "winter fiction" as well. |
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Summer reading list
