what are some books that you've read recently that you think deserve
mentioning?

Anyone read anything by Haruki Murakami or Noam Chomsky?

The Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

sounds interesting, what's it about...?

Its a fantasy series. There are 7 books and they are each about a
different world. I loved them.

um...let's see...right now...hmmm...

"lisey's story" by stephen king
"dear john" by nicholas sparks
"crusader" by sara douglass
"lying with strangers" by james grippando
"no second chance" by harlan coben
"the magicians' guild" by trudi canavan
"spellbinder" by melanie rawn
"first rider's call" by kristen britain
"blink" by malcolm gladwell

i'm an avid reader, mostly fantasy and suspense...but i'll read just
about anything that's written well and makes me think.

what, nobody reads?

Well, here’s my latest & current list.

Einstines Dreams – Alan Lightman
A Short Story of Myth – Karen Armstrong
The Biology of Transcendence – Joseph Pearce
Anatomy of Spirit – Caroline Myss
How to Interpet Your Dreams - ?? Had a dream I ate a book and now can’t
find it
When God Winks - ?? loaned it out
Exploring Spellcraft – Gerina Dunwich
The Raw Foods Resource Guide – Jeremy Safron
A More Ardent Fire – Eknath Easwaran

Most of these are started and are half or more read. Perhaps spending
more time reading would be good.

The Hard Way -Lee Child
Lost Scriptures - Bart Ehrman
Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote
Before You Leap A Frog's Eye View of Life's Greatest Lessons - Kermit
the Frog

Highly recommend ANY of the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child.

Perfume by Patrick Suskind

I've never read a better book...

<<<<<<<<Diary of a Handsome Man

you look handsome

Why you keep frowning at me Steff? I'm smiling.

I recently read John Updike's "Rabbit" series (4 novels and a short
story sequel) which are the best-written things I have ever read in my
life!

Currently reading "The Ideas of Ayn Rand" by Ronald E. Merrill and
"Vintage Synthesizers" by Mark Vail.

Anything by Dean Koontz is good, he can be long winded at times but its
always a great story. Here recently I've been reading books by Terry
Prachett and they are funny!

Lex,

"Currently reading "The Ideas of Ayn Rand" by Ronald E. Merrill"

What's this about? Is it idea generating?

Camp -- the best way to explain it would be to quote you this bit from
the preface:

"My objective is threefold. First, to give an account of the
development of Ayn Rand's ideas -- to explain where Objectivism came
from. Second, to present a perspective of Objectivism as an organic
whole, an integrated philosphy with an organized, hiererchical structure
tied together by certain key thems. Third, to identify areas in which
Ayn Rand's ideas are incomplete, and in some cases incorrect, and to
suggest lines for the future expansion of Objectivism."

There is some information about her personal life and how it influenced
her writings, but the book deals much more with the ideas and concepts
themselves. It does a very nice job, in my opinion, of delving into the
innards of "Atlas Shrugged" (a personal favorite) and there is some
coverage of the Rand-Nietzsche connection. As I myself am a huge
Nietzsche fan, I find the whole thing fascinating.

I would recommend it to anyone who has some familiarity with her work.
For anyone who doesn't, I would recommend "Atlas" or "The Fountainhead"
or "We the Living" (if you want to get back to the real roots) before
reading this one.

Excellent Lex, sounds quite esoteric. I don’t have the background
knowledge and was asking the whole time reading ”who the heck is Ayn
Rand?”

I have heard of We the Living, but don’t recall anymore than the title.
Sounds like a good place to start. That one’s now on my list.
thanks


Hey, it looks like someone turned the lights out on ya!
Either that or you llamas are eating light bulbs again.

Camp -- "We the Living" was her first novel, but "Atlas Shrugged" is
probably her best known. The interesting thing is that I read "Atlas"
first -- upon reading "Living" some years later, I was struck by seeing
the much earlier state of development of some of the same themes in
"Atlas", the way it was clear that her ideas had grown and developed and
crystallized over the years that had passed between the two books.

She is not the writer that Updike is, and some of the dialogue
(particularly John Galt's and Dagny Taggert's in "Atlas") seems a bit
forced, and dated; but the stories, and the philosophy underlying, are
really not to be missed.