iSketch Forum Book Club

[TempusFugit]

Yes... it is back!

This is a thread created for everyone interested in reading. A place to recommend books to read, ask questions or indeed discuss anything related to literature.

I love reading and have an interest in Templar and Masonic Books (fact and fiction). I also read anything from Ian Rankin through to Virgina Andrews - kind of sums me up in one really!

Due to the late hour - I shall add what I am currently reading tomorrow!

[element212]

i read a book called two old women for english class.. it was about eskimo ladies and it was pretty good :P

[2.0]

Here i go again promoting my favourite book ever!

Stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers, by Mary Roach.

This is BY FAR the best scientific non-fiction book i've ever read. It's not a hard read, it's just so full of such interesting historic facts and then some about what happens to human bodies after they die, whether they're buried, used for science, miliatary, crash testing, even food.

Unsolicited Praise:
"One of the funniest and most unusual books of the year."
-- Entertainment Weekly

"A mordantly witty history of the scientific contributions made by the no-longer-living."
-- Outside magazine


From the chapter "A Head is a Terrible Thing to Waste," about plastic-surgery instruction on cadavers:

The human head is of the same approximate size and weight as a roaster chicken. I have never before had the occasion to make the comparison, for never before today have I seen a head in a roasting pan. But here are forty of them, one per pan, resting face-up on what looks to be a small pet-food bowl. The heads are for plastic surgeons, two per head, to practice on....

"Isolate the brow as a skin island." The [instructor] speaks slowly, in a flat tone. I'm sure the idea is to sound neither excited and delighted at the prospect of isolating skin islands, nor overly dismayed. The net effect is that he sounds chemically sedated, which seems to me like a good idea.

Everyone should read this book! muahahahaha

[MsNerdinator]

I said it then and I'll say it again... Pride and Prejudice is the best book ever :razz:
Some other favourites being..
Ann of Green Gables
Black Beauty
Little Women
My Left Foot (that had me crying my eyes out!)
Um.. and that's all I can think of right now.

I used to read books a lot, but not anymore. The books above are old favourites that I'll always love though.

[2.0]

I'd also like to mention this website: http://www.bookcrossing.com/

It's something sort of where's george, but with books. If you have any books you've read and wish to "set them free" (cleaning out your bookshelf essentially), without trashing them, register them on the website, get them a unique code and leave that book somewhere public. Chances are somebody is going to pick it up and learn about the bookcrossing project and perhaps read it and love it too! It's a little bit more fun than giving them to charity, but all to the same effect.

The gist is that you put a sticker on the inside of the cover of the book, or write on it, explaining what bookcrossing is and indicating the BCID (the code), and that whomever picks it up to please go to the website and enter the book code and write where the book went, or to read it and then release it for someone else to find.

I've had books that i released that travelled as far as syberia and peru and keep going. You can also go to bookcrossing community meets and pick up new books at the meets. It's a fantastic opportunity for booklovers to share their wealth and dip into the wealth of everybody else.

Happy releasing!

[Vik]

I am reading 'The Secret Garden'. It's a book I loved as a kid, and I found it on my parent's bookshelf when I went home at Christmas and have started reading it again. It's a nice book.

After I finish, I plan to start reading Umberto Eco's 'Foucault's Pendulum'.

[tuppence]

I am reading ARE YOU PSYCHIC? bye dorothy chitty..
ive read it once a long time ago and am reading it again just to practice the exercerces given in the book,

[MsNerdinator]

I am reading 'The Secret Garden'.

*gasp* Another of my favourites. I read that so many times during my early teens. Have you seen the film version? Not too bad.

[gracie]

we're expected to read a Classic book for English.

i'm tackling Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.

[MsNerdinator]

Great Expectations is a good book. I read it many years ago. Took me a while to get into it, but it's not too bad. :)

[Facey]

I'm loving the Rosie Thomas: Blue Dahlia,Red Lilly and Black Rose at the moment. They're so compelling you can't stop reading.

[Amandi]

Harry Potter books are pretty cool...:smile:

[whoyou1992]

Totally. I love the book Howl's Moving Castle. It was definetly pleasureable. I couldn't put it down.

[Mike_LFC]

Currently reading the Sherlock Holmes books. I was surprised that these books have withstood the test of time, It is hard to believe that these stories are from the 1800's. Only read the first two so far, but would highly recommend these to anyone.

[Nay]

House of Leaves...

If you want something that is so absurd, it doesn't even appear like a normal book, go for it.

Don't expect to feel good while reading it though.

[whoyou1992]

I just finished Castle in the Air, the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle. Now I'm gonna have to go watch the movies...

[gracie]

hah, in the movie, Howl is hottt.

/me drools
gotta love the hot anime guys. xD

i finished reading Sterkarm Handshake, by Susan Price.
urgh, wasn't that great.

[whoyou1992]

Augh, Grace, now you really make me want to see the movie.
/me jumps around in anticipation.

[tuppence]

/me hasnt had time for reading

[Sarah]

*Bumping this thread, hope no one minds, as I don't know if anyone is interested in this.*

Because I study English at uni, I read a lot of books, and I mean, A LOT. But I just wanted to mention one that I finished reading yesterday that deserves to be mentioned. It's by Pam Jenoff and it's called 'Kommandant's Girl' and basically it's about a Jewish girl living under a false identity in German-occupied Poland in the Second World War, working for a Nazi official to try and get information about the Nazi regime for the resistance. It is such a good book and it's one of the best I've read in a long, long time. It did make me cry a few times, and books don't usually tend to do that so it must have been good. I highly recommend it!

Apologies for waffling. :D

[Carrotcake]

Indigo_twist and I had this brilliant idea to start a book discussion. Yes, I know "books!", many of you are probably cringing at the prospect of opening an old object completely filled with dust for school/work let alone FUN. With that being said we've decided to not place any limits regarding the subject matter or genre.

So if any of you have that book, that after reading it get this "OMG" feeling we definitely encourage you to go straight to the computer- open iSketch forums and share with us!

I also would like to ask anyone who posts in this thread to give a "spoiler" warning if the comment you have gives away the ending or any crucial information about the book.

The book Indigo_twist and I will be starting to discuss is going to be: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult.

May all we literate people be proud!

Let the book discussion begin.
Bookworms unite ;)

Sincerely,

Carrotcake & Indigo_Twist

[Triscuit]

The only thing i read is Guitar World. Which by the way i finally got it, but it will be here in 3 weeks..... =/

[indigo_twist]

Hi everyone :)
Okay... so thinking back to when I read <u>My Sister's Keeper</u>, I can remember sitting on the bus, and almost missing my stop almost every time I was on the bus reading this book. It was SO intense and incredible... and so sad, but not sad in a "I can't read this!" kind of way.
I love the way the book sort of focuses on Kate (the girl who is suffering from cancer), yet does not have any narrative by Kate. The chapters are divided into different characters' points of view. For example, one chapter will be called "Anna" and will have a few pages of Anna's thoughts. Then, the next chapter might be called "Campbell Alexander" (the lawyer) and be about his feelings on the whole case that Anna brings to him.
The ending is just unbelievable... I think it would be horrible of me to even elude to the ending on here, so I won't... just know that it is very unexpected and shocking.
I'll have more thoughts on this book to jot down soon. :)

[Carrotcake]

We'd also like to give those people that haven't read My Sister's Keeper (MSK) a synopsis:

"Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate - a life and a role that she has never questioned… until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister - and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable… a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life… even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less?"

[abercrombie.]

Hmm seems like an interesting book !!
Maybe i will actually read it =)

[Vik]

Indigo_twist and I had this brilliant idea to start a book discussion. Yes, I know "books!", many of you are probably cringing at the prospect of opening an old object completely filled with dust for school/work let alone FUN. With that being said we've decided to not place any limits regarding the subject matter or genre.

Thanks for your concern, but I assure you the majority of us do read now and again and some of us even enjoy it! There is already a book club thread here and I shall merge this thread with it and keep the place nice and tidy :)

Right now I am reading 'Voll idiot' which is German for 'complete idiot'. I like the back of the book which states that while some men are only idiots, others are complete idiots. I haven't got very far, but what I have read is funny. It's a kind of observational comedy book aimed at men which my fiancé read and enjoyed, so I am practising my German with it.

Before that I read Patrick Süskind's 'Parfum' which is also a movie. It's a very richly written book, beautifully phrased in some parts, and brutally described in others. I'd recommend it simply for how well it's written.

[tasha]

The book Indigo_twist and I will be starting to discuss is going to be: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult.

This is one of my all time favourite books (and I think I saw the other day that gracie was reading it too?)
When I saw that you'd got this thread going again I was going to recommend this one.. but looks like you've done it for me!

And yeah, you've given the synopsis of it.. but I'm open to discussion.. I loved it XD

[indigo_twist]

Wow, it's cool the book discussion is something many people are interested in... Carrotcake and I didn't realize that someone had already created one!
Right now I am reading Daniel Isn't Talking, by Marti Leimbach. Here is the synopsis on the back:

Melanie Marsh is an American living in London married to Stephen, the perfect Englishman, who knew the minute he saw her that she was to be his future. But when their youngest child is diagnosed with autism there marriage starts to unravel at great speed. Stephen runs back into the arms of his previous girlfriend while Melanie does everything in her power to help her son and keep her family together.

------

As you can probably tell, it is a really sad book, but it is super-interesting to read about what it is like to have an autistic child. I have read books about what it is like to HAVE autism (and I have friends with Asperger's, and a relative with severe autism) but have never devoted any time to thinking about what it must be like for a parent.

I could feel the frustration in this book, and the sadness, and the anger, and the relief (when things did go well.) I am enjoying this book a lot so far... I don't know the ending yet, so there's no way I could spoil it, even if I tried! :)

Ooh, and I wanted to comment to Vik that I am definitely going to look at Voll Idiot!

I am a German major, and am always looking for fun things in German to read. :)