What are you reading?

hoven5th · Post by **hoven5th** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 1:23 am

I haven't been around here too long, but I bet the forums are less active while the northern hemisphere drifts into winter and out of the growing season.

So, this might be fun while the cacti are sleeping: What are you reading? I'd love to get the dope on good books I might not otherwise come across. (Of course, books about cacti have their own topic.)

I'm reading: Making Room for Daddy: The Journey from the Waiting Room to Birthing Room by Judith Walzer Leavitt. 2009. University of North Carolina Press.

Written by an historian, the book traces the progression of fathers' involvement in childbirth in America from the 19th century when men had little connection with childbirth, to the current situation in which fathers are now generally expected to accompany their wives into the labor and delivery room. The author argues that before childbirth was appropriated by the medical profession, the mothers-to-be would call on other local women for support, while the men were excluded. However as the medical profession gradually made lay female support obsolete, women grew dissatisfied with the impersonal hospital birthing experience, and gradually began seeking the support of their husbands, who then gradually became more involved in the birthing experience.

Good book. I recommend it.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 1:43 am

You will be suprised how active this forum is year round.

hoven5th · Post by **hoven5th** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 1:47 am

Tony wrote:You will be suprised how active this forum is year round.

Wonderful!

Post by **daiv** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 1:54 am

Sadly, I'm just happy to get through my periodicals at the moment. Used to read a lot more books when I was a bachelor without kids!

CelticRose · Post by **CelticRose** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 3:36 am

Tony wrote:You will be suprised how active this forum is year round.

Yes, we do have people from both hemispheres.

I'm currently reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

hoven5th · Post by **hoven5th** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 12:11 pm

CelticRose wrote:
Tony wrote: I'm currently reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

Is that a novel?

Harriet · Post by **Harriet** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 12:50 pm

One of my favorite things, reading. I haven't read anything important lately, just escape from the mundane novels. And I'll put away one or two of those a week. (Who needs sleep any way?)

Here's some recommendations:

For shoot'em up-spy-conspiracy-get the bad guy novels, I am absolutely hooked on any "Jack Reacher" novel by Lee Child.

David Baldacchi has some really good stuff, I particularly like the ones about the "Camel Club".

Dale Brown's latest novels are thought provoking, whether or not you agree with him.

Pat Conroy and Nelson DeMille are a little "higher class" writers. Conroy is especially good if you are looking for lyrical descriptions of the South Carolina low lands...

If you want more relationship in the novel mix there's Sandra Brown and Catherine Coulter. (You have to be careful with Sandra Brown though, or you might pick up a real piece of romance trash.)

Used to read a lot of Patricia Cornwell's stuff about a Medical Examiner/wonder woman, but quit reading her books when I got one in which she insisted on calling an orange grove an "orange orchard". Sorry Patricia but that is too big a gaff for me!

There's more, but I'll stop before this reply becomes a novel!

CelticRose · Post by **CelticRose** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 8:32 pm

hoven5th wrote:
CelticRose wrote:I'm currently reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
Is that a novel?

Yes. A very long novel.

hoven5th · Post by **hoven5th** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:35 pm

Harriet wrote:One of my favorite things, reading. I haven't read anything important lately, just escape from the mundane novels. And I'll put away one or two of those a week. (Who needs sleep any way?)

Wow! You really are busy! I love fiction when I read it, but I just don't read much of it. At two novels a week, you've probably read more novels in a year than I've read in my life. I just gravitate to non-fiction.

And I know what you mean about the sleep. My general rule is, if I start dozing off while I'm reading, that's when it's time to put the book down.

hoven5th · Post by **hoven5th** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:46 pm

CelticRose wrote:
hoven5th wrote:
CelticRose wrote:I'm currently reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
Is that a novel?
Yes. A very long novel.

I looked it up on Wiki. A philosophy of objectivism, the role of the mind in society, social and economic commentary, 1,200 pages. This is no joke. Looks like a critique socialism, no? This looks like something I would want to read.

Harriet · Post by **Harriet** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 12:31 am

Atlas Shrugged is a modern thought provoking classic. I read it back in high school (in the days just after dirt was invented), and it remained a favorite of mine for years.

hoven5th · Post by **hoven5th** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:58 am

Harriet wrote:Atlas Shrugged is a modern thought provoking classic. I read it back in high school (in the days just after dirt was invented), and it remained a favorite of mine for years.

Yea, I never heard of it until now, but it surely does seem interesting. Shows how plugged in I am to the world fiction! Maybe when I retire I can read a 1,200 page novel for fun

I think the reason why I don't read much fiction is my reading style: I read lots of books at a time and hardly ever get through any cover-to-cover, which usually works fine when the book has a "thesis" but probably less so when there is a narrative.

PoC · Post by **PoC** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 2:12 am

I got my hands on a copy of Teratopia: The World of Cristate and Variegated Succulents by making an interlibrary loan request through the public library. It finally came from the LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden and I'm enjoying it thoroughly. I usually have at least half a dozen other biology-related books checked out, too, but not now. I only have 10 more days to finish up with it, though, so I better get moving.

I've read Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead in the past but am not much for fiction. I hear a lot of criticism directed towards Ayn Rand more recently, but don't really understand.

hoven5th · Post by **hoven5th** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 2:30 am

PoC wrote:I got my hands on a copy of Teratopia: The World of Cristate and Variegated Succulents by making an interlibrary loan request through the public library. It finally came from the LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden and I'm enjoying it thoroughly. I usually have at least half a dozen other biology-related books checked out, too, but not now. I only have 10 more days to finish up with it, though, so I better get moving.

I've read Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead in the past but am not much for fiction. I hear a lot of criticism directed towards Ayn Rand more recently, but don't really understand.

It's nice that you're enjoying the book on cristate and variegated succulents. I'm new to cacti, but I think those kinds of plants are pretty, and I can see they're highly valued by collectors. Maybe once I get my feet wet a bit more I'll check out Teratopia.

I too have been reading up on biology and horticulture. I'm new to it all, and it's easy to get intimidated by some of the people around here who seem to know everything about cacti and succs, even if they graciously help newbies like me. (Thanks everyone!). And so I read as much as I can about it, though I know there's no substitute for hard-won experience.

GardenBed · Post by **GardenBed** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:57 am

Their Eyes were watching God, by Zora Hurston.