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Summer Reading; What's caught your fancy this summer?
Topic Started: Thursday Jul 23 2009, 04:32 PM (426 Views)
Mariko

Right now I'm in the middle of Tony Horvitz's nonfiction book Confederates in the Attic. Horvitz, a Pulitzer-winning journalist who has recently returned to the United States after years of covering wars as a foreign correspondent, discovers that Americans are still obsessed with the Civil War (or the War Between the States). For the next two years, Horvitz travels around the American South and talks to some ridiculously archetypal Southern Gothic character-people about why the War still commands a presence in the minds and hearts of many Americans. He nearly freezes to death with "hardcore" Civil War reenactors who immerse themselves in period clothing and military drills; he witnesses a Children of the Confederacy meeting that sounds eerily like a Hitler Youth gathering; he discusses the concept of prejudice with a black hairdresser. It's by turns funny and chilling (Horvitz asks a Klan member why she isn't wearing her hood and robe at a public demonstration in broad daylight, to which she replies that "It's a good look but the dry cleaning bills will kill you"), and I think very poignant. Then again, I'm one of those dorks who actually looked forward to the days in American History when we got to watch Ken Burns' Civil War documentary.

And, obviously, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. How about you all?
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rileysmomma

I let my best friend talk me into reading "Finger Lickin' Fifteen" by Janet Evanovich and was really irritated by it. I've just started Susie's "Hawke's Harbor" and have the Dark Tower books 2-7 waiting in the wings for me. Also looking forward to Jennifer Weiner's new one coming out here in a couple of weeks.
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fairlane

The latest book I read is Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill. It's from the pov of the 12 year old daughter of a heroin addict in Montreal, I think set in the 80's.

I also recently read Hold Tight by Harlan Coben which is about two parents who's teenage son has gone missing. It starts off well but the second half got boring and I just skimmed through it.

The next book I plan on reading is The Red Tent which I've been recomended.
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Artemis

I've run through the entire Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampires Mysteries series. It has pros and cons -- mostly, it's the usual sassy, yet unusual, heroine who, despite being considered weird/despised by society-at-large, saves the day from the big baddie/apocolypse ... for the tenth time, but it's better written than most of the books along that line.
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the_sly_wink

Non-fiction: I'm reading Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich, which is awesome if, y'know, you like animal cognition or cool anecdotes about ravens stealing underwear to cash it in for treats. Mau Moko: World of the Maori Tattoo by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku.

Fiction: Re-re-re-reading The Ladies of Grace Adieu, which totally needs some fanart.

Haha, my friend's uncle is a Civil War reenactor, but he's crazy in the history buff kind of way as opposed to OMG TEH SOUF.
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Artemis

I want to read "To Kill a Mockingbird" again, but I can't find my copy.
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Jen

Right now I'm making my way through Karin Slaughter's series again. Her new one is due out here in a week or two and I'm looking foward to that next.
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sam

I'm reading "Boom" by Tom Brokaw, a cross-section of the populace from the sixties, based on personal experience as well as group interviews. Really good insight into what that decade actually felt like, living it. Feeds very well into writing Outsiders fanfic, using what was going on during the late 60s.
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sam

OOOOH, Artemis, if you can't find it, I'll send you one. SO worth it. One of my favorite books. ever.
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zevie
Administrator
Haruki Murakami (I sound like a broken record lol) ... still working on A Wild Sheep Chase and I've been reading a lot of literary magazines. At first, I read them for research, but now I'm really getting into it. Short stories, ftw.
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