Whatcha Reading?

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golfmobile · #31 Post by **golfmobile** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:46 pm

SL,

I don't have any small children. I don't have any large children. Gee, it seems I don't have any children at all.

I don't read books at home -- I don't have time -- or I feel guilty that I'm not "accomplishing" something, even if it's vacuuming. I read only on my breaks at work, going up and down in the elevator, at stoplights, grocery store lines, etc. -- basically any "waiting" time. Reading to me is "fill in" time when I can't be doing something else. I virtually always have the book I'm reading with me. If I'm at a particularly good part of the book, I'm frequently seen walking even to my parking garage with the book open in my hands, being read. In my office building, I'm known as "the reader" because, just walking out the front door to deliver papers across the street, I'm walking and reading. Everyone asks how I can do it and not bump into people. I guess I just have really good peripheral vision!

But doing it this way has me really spoiled, in terms of keeping my mind occupied, because now if I'm between books (haven't gotten the next one from the library before I finished the current one), I'm miserable in the elevator or at stop lights.

Am I weird?

golf

Lily · #32 Post by **Lily** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:14 pm

No, I dont think you are weird Golf...you just enjoy reading in a different way!

I was always taught that books are silent friends, and have found this to be very true. If you have a book, you are never lonely and no matter where you are you can lose yourself in its pages. Great way to pass time anywhere, whether its at home, in an airport, on the beach etc.etc.
I sooo pity people who dont read, and I am married to one!

MPS · #33 Post by **MPS** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:39 pm

You remind me of my second daughter, Golf. She always has one or more books in her bag, ready to go. She hasn't yet mastered the art of reading while walking (she's terribly uncoordinated ), but reads in every spare moment. If she sits down or is standing still, the book comes out. She also will sit and read when she really should be doing other things.....cleaning, studying, sleeping....

I will suggest that she adopt your method

IslandHopper · #34 Post by **IslandHopper** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 10:35 pm

golfmobile wrote:IH,

There is a whole series of the Vince Flynn (author)/Mitch Rabb (protagonist) books. Read them all (best to take them in chronological order as you will understand character and plot changes better if you read the previous story). They are excellent! I LOVE that kind of story. And if you like those, you might also like the Brad Thor ones with Scot Horvath -- same type CIA character/black ops, etc.

I'm currently reading "Hit and Run," the new Lawrence Block "hitman" book (following Hit Man, Hit List, and Hit Parade). Block is also the author of the Matthew Scudder, PI, books (some of you might remember the movie with Jeff Bridges "Eight Million Ways to Die," which was based on one of the Scudder books). Prior to this one, I had just finished the new Lee Child/Jack Reacher book "Nothing to Lose." This is also an EXCELLENT series, in my opinion.

Can you tell I like the action/killer books? And P.I. books -- Nameless Detective series (Bill Pronzini), Elvis Cole (Robert Crais, also the author of "Hostage," which was made into the movie with Bruce Willis), Anne Perry's Victorian series (Thomas Pitt and William Monk), Elizabeth Peters' Victorian/Edwardian Egyptologists (Amelia Peabody and family)/ I'm also waiting for my library to get the new Robert Tanenbaum/Butch Karp book, I've read all that series and it is GREAT if you like detailed lawyer books (they make John Grisham look like a comic strip). I like lawyer series too -- John Lescroat's Dismas Hardy, David Baldacci, Steve Martini, etc. Also love the Harlan Coben Myron Bolitar series (gotta love that Win -- talk about a "misfit" chum!!).golf

Thanks Golf. I'll keep a look out for those. I also like lawyer books. "The List" was excellent as well as many other books by Steve Martini. I also like John Grisham. Michael Crichton and James Michener are some of my favorite authors. My local Barnes & Noble didn't have any of the Robert Parker "Jesse Stone" books in stock so I bought "Appaloosa." I will start that soon. Anyone read Appaloosa?

golfmobile · #35 Post by **golfmobile** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 3:44 am

IH,

I have read all the Robert B. Parker (RBP) books (Spenser, Sunny Randall, Jesse Stone) except his Westerns. I hear that a movie may be in the works of Appaloosa, with Viggo Mortensen in one of the roles -- can't remember right now if it's Virgil or Everitt (I think they may be similar to the "Lonesome Dove" type with the two cowboys as buddies theme). Oddly enough, at the library today, I just picked up "Resolution," which is the sequel to "Appaloosa." I did notice that, as usual with RBP books, the pages are thick paper, margins wide, etc., to make a short book look "bigger." That seems to be SOP for RBP these days. But I still read his books -- I just don't BUY them (I get 'em from the library).

I like Steve Martini too. If you like lawyer books, you might want to look for the John Lescroat (author) Dismas Hardy (protagonist) books too, along with the Robert Tanenbaum/Butch Karp books I think I mentioned. Both are certainly worth reading if you like lawyer books. I've read all of them and am waiting for my library to get the most recent Tanenbaum one ("Escape").

golf

IslandHopper · #36 Post by **IslandHopper** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 3:51 am

I'll be sure to check those out. Thanks Golf.

SelleckLover · #37 Post by **SelleckLover** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 8:04 pm

Right now I am reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves, The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Golfmobile if you're reading this post I know you would howl with laughter while reading this book! The title comes about when the author hears a joke about a panda.

A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots into the air.
"Why did you do that?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."
The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.
"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

So, punctuation really does matter, even if it is only occasionally a matter of life and death!

I highly recommend this book!!!!

BTW, there is a Punctuation Repair Kit included in the paperback that I have. It consists of different sized stickers of periods, commas, colons and semicolons, question marks, etc. There are also several stickers that have a picture of a panda and the words, The Panda Says NO! LMAO

golfmobile · #38 Post by **golfmobile** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 9:17 pm

SL,

I read that a few years ago. We're on the same page here (with punctuation rules)!!! I drive my bosses crazy with the possessive gerund -- I keep putting it in their drafts where it should be used and they keep striking my apostrophe! One of them, however, leaves it in -- I won that argument with him 25 years ago when I put it in a brief he was sending to the Supreme Court, and he said that the justices wouldn't know what it was. I said, "Perhaps, but what if just ONE of them knows it should be there and it's not?" I told him I'd rather have them look it up and find out he is right than to expect it and not see it. He then stopped arguing with me about that one.

There's another good book by a newscaster about speaking well, and I can see his face but for the life of me right now I can't come up with his name so I can Google the book and tell you the name of it. He's the one who looks like everything in his face is all scrunched together in the middle. This is driving me crazy . . . . .

golf

SelleckLover · #39 Post by **SelleckLover** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:10 am

golf,

Next on the agenda is Talk to the Hand by the same author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves. The subtitle of the book is: The Utter Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door. I am ready with my yellow highlighter to make note of key sentences and phrases!

Keep up the good work with your bosses...someone has to whip them into shape!

SL

MPS · #40 Post by **MPS** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 4:07 am

Okay, SL and Golf, you have motivated me more than either of my daughters. They have read both of the books by Lynne Truss, and have told me that they were a "must read". I see no way around it now...they are next in the que

(Here I sit, worrying about punctuation and spelling......

)

SelleckLover · #41 Post by **SelleckLover** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 5:52 am

MPS wrote:

(Here I sit, worrying about punctuation and spelling......

Don't worry MPS...this is just for fun...so spelling and punctuation don't count.

golfmobile · #42 Post by **golfmobile** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:14 pm

MPS,

For your first lesson, it's "queue."

golf

#43 Post by **J.J. Walters** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:24 pm

golfmobile wrote:I won that argument with him 25 years ago when I put it in a brief he was sending to the Supreme Court, and he said that the justices wouldn't know what it was. I said, "Perhaps, but what if just ONE of them knows it should be there and it's not?" I told him I'd rather have them look it up and find out he is right than to expect it and not see it. He then stopped arguing with me about that one.

You are all kinds of awesomeness* golf!

* The author is aware that "awesomeness" is not a real word.

MPS · #44 Post by **MPS** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 4:32 pm

Golf wrote:MPS,

For your first lesson, it's "queue."

Thanks, Golf

I will remember that! "Que" did look too short, and know I know why.

MPS

Carmen · #45 Post by **Carmen** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:29 pm

Golf, now I`ll never be able to write Private Messages to you, knowing you are a waiting with that red pen to correct them

okay, have to admit I am doing stuff like this myself every time I read letters, invitations, menus.....