Thread: What are you reading?

Just finished a re-read of the Harry Potter series. Hadn't read them since they came out when I was a kid. The first two are fairly light and definitely more geared toward kids, but 3-7 still hold up really really well. Will probably read the subsequent books that have come out that I never got around to now.

Originally Posted by BroncoWave

Just finished a re-read of the Harry Potter series. Hadn't read them since they came out when I was a kid. The first two are fairly light and definitely more geared toward kids, but 3-7 still hold up really really well. Will probably read the subsequent books that have come out that I never got around to now.

My oldest son is on his Harry Potter kick right now. When I was a kid, my great-grandma turned me on to Harry Potter. I read the first three, but stopped after that, so I'm oblivious to what happens after. Anyway, I told my son after he finished each book, we would watch the movie for that book. He finished the first book last Thursday, so we rented the first movie on Amazon Friday night to watch through the weekend. It was kinda refreshing for me to dip back in to my childhood in that way.

Originally Posted by SR

My oldest son is on his Harry Potter kick right now. When I was a kid, my great-grandma turned me on to Harry Potter. I read the first three, but stopped after that, so I'm oblivious to what happens after. Anyway, I told my son after he finished each book, we would watch the movie for that book. He finished the first book last Thursday, so we rented the first movie on Amazon Friday night to watch through the weekend. It was kinda refreshing for me to dip back in to my childhood in that way.

I don't know how good you'd find the latter ones if you're reading the later books as an adult, but I do think the series takes a substantial step up by book 3. And honestly 5-7 get dark to the point where I could almost see it being a little too dark for a young kid to read. Those last few books are really, really great.

Originally Posted by BroncoWave

I don't know how good you'd find the latter ones if you're reading the later books as an adult, but I do think the series takes a substantial step up by book 3. And honestly 5-7 get dark to the point where I could almost see it being a little too dark for a young kid to read. Those last few books are really, really great.

My oldest is nine, almost 10. He can definitely handle Harry Potter. He's sat and watched TV versions of A LOT of war movies with me.

I'm definitely not reading the books now though. My kid is and we're just watching the movies together once he finishes each book. Something to incentivize him to read.

Reading 'Baby Teeth'



Nut, get in here.

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.
I love his stuff.

Originally Posted by EastCoastBronco

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.
I love his stuff.

I demand more punctuation!

Originally Posted by EastCoastBronco

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.
I love his stuff.

He might be the only novelist where I've read all his stuff.

Originally Posted by Buff

I demand more punctuation!

I told my kids that reading McCarthy is like learning a new language.
I don't think I've ever read an author where I'll re-read a page or passage 2 or 3 times just because the prose is so cryptic and beautiful.
Herman Melville, maybe.
Takes me longer to read one of his books than it would take to read 5 King novels...;-)
Fantastic stuff.

From Baby Teeth:

"Maybe she would leave her cells or fingerprints. And when Hannah tossed the Mommy-confetti into the flames, her spell would be twice as strong."

-Hannah's ulterior reason about letting her mother, who she hates, help her with a drawing of Hannah's alter ego for use in a Swedish pagan fire ceremony of casting things away. Hannah's secret purpose is to cast away a photograph of her mother, torn into tiny bits while Hannah
had invoked a death curse (the Mommy-confetti).

I finished this last night. Northy, put on your readers and dig in!

Just finished Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's and it was a very engaging book! I personally am on the spectrum a bit (diagnosed a few years ago) as are a few in my extended family and I found myself relating to many of his anecdotes about social interactions as well as how you tend to "cover up" your deficiencies as you get older to blend in. I especially liked the stories of when he worked as a sound and production engineer with KISS in the 70's at the height of their popularity and designed many of Ace's signature special effects guitars on their tours.

He is the older brother of Augusten Burroughs if any of you have seen the movie or read the book Running with Scissors and want a different perspective on that same ****** -up family.

From the book description:

Ever since he was young, John Robison longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits—an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother, Augusten Burroughs, in them)—had earned him the label “social deviant.” It was not until he was forty that he was diagnosed with a form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome. That understanding transformed the way he saw himself—and the world. A born storyteller, Robison has written a moving, darkly funny memoir about a life that has taken him from developing exploding guitars for KISS to building a family of his own. It’s a strange, sly, indelible account—sometimes alien yet always deeply human.

I'm about to start reading "Thank You For My Service" by Mat Best, one of the owners of Black Rifle Coffee.

I am working my way through Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and am loving it so far. Its basically a crash course in the who and why of what makes us human. The first part really deals with how we were the first species of apes to believe in things that we don't see (stories, myths, learning about how Uncle Crog saw a lion by the river, etc.) and how that is what really set us up for societal evolution where we can live in mega cities or small groups and cooperate more or less. The shared lie and the shared truth, essentially. I love this book because as you read it you actively think about how this applies to modern stuff like politics and sports, or even going to a movie theater and agreeing to sit in the dark with strangers. I've heard about this book for years, and am glad I am finally getting into it. I bet the audio version would be great too, like a really good podcast.

Hawg, tell us how you feel about Sapiens.