What is everone reading ?

“Revenue Corporate Law...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz”

“MySQL 5.0 Reference Manual likewise zzzzzzzzzzz”

“Dr. Eric Johnson's "Koi Health and Disease" handbook. Very thorough booger. Unfortunately it has really bad photography in it so you can't see the details. It just makes me wish I hadn't gotten rid of my 5" thick zoology textbook from college.”

“Just finished the Da Vinci Code. Starting a Walk in the Woods.”

“"a history of god" by karen armstrong”

“Nigal,

I saw one Larry Elder show and was surprised to see him feature blacks against other blacks. One guy did not want to hire blacks who used what are sometimes made up names which they say are their black roots names, you know the ones that are hard to pronouce and very ethnic sounding.

I think I've seen where Bill Cosby has caught some flack for bringing up some of the less positive things about some black people and the purpose was to tell them to straighten up their lives in whatever ways he was talking about to make some black people live a better life to make their communities better and be more productive. People like Jessy Jackson and that one with the weird hair, I forget his name, only try to stand by blacks with self made problems and really do nothing to further their race in trying to help people uplift the quality of their lives and the lives of their children.

I'm waiting for my book to come in by Dean Koontz, his 2nd in the Odd Thomas series, so I went and took out a bunch of magazines until it gets to my library.

I've got a magazine that features my African Gray Parrot, a veggie mag, some mags on my state and traveling and some psychology mags.”

“this article kind of relates to the Bill Cosby blasting by blacks. It was in todays paper written by a white coulmnist
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051227/COLUMNIST0112/512270317/1402/COLUMNIST

Written by Frank Ritter
Pardon me, but can we be blunt about race?

I realize, of course, that in order to avoid controversy or misunderstanding, it's best to remain docile, keeping one's mouth shut, especially when the subject is race.

Yes, I know that, but it's a downright shame to waste one's potential contribution to the debate. Plus, as you may have surmised, I've got the hide of a rhinoceros, relishing the fight and inviting everyone to compete in the forum of ideas. Just be sure to bring to the table an ounce of integrity and a healthy dose of civility, and we'll engage in reasoned dialogue.

We dwell today on the question of who speaks sense when it comes to race. Specifically, where is the black leadership we so desperately need? I pick up the newspaper or watch TV news and I feel as if I'm wading in a messy bog. Worse, I feel like a coward, as if I'm hiding true feelings to keep from offending.

An example: If black comedian Bill Cosby laments the fact that young blacks don't want to get an education or speak the King's English for fear of being seen as white honkies, then he is lambasted by other blacks for being a traitor to the cause.

Of course that reaction does nothing to solve the problem of education for blacks.

Example: If black actor Morgan Freeman declares as "ridiculous" Black History Month, his intelligence is questioned, on this very page no less. (that article was written by a black columnist)
He'll have a difficult time mollifying those of his own race who see here a special race-based privilege to be jealously guarded.

Example: Or talk about Miss Black America, the National Association of Black Journalists, or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and then listen to lame excuses about why this is permissible, while an organization with "white" in the title is disallowed on grounds of racism.

All those instances are relatively minor, their importance minuscule in terms of the broad picture. But the relevant point is that while we may talk among ourselves about these cases in point, rarely do we discuss them in inter-racial groups — the tension caused being too great, and the black response often the same: "But you guys (white folks) already have a version of this! You don't need it as we (blacks) do."

Much more relevant, and closer to home, are black violence and the question of what to do about it. Read the paper, watch TV news. It's with us daily, and often the question is, "What should we do about it?"

I hesitate to say it — this is where the charge of racism will raise its head — but my impression is that too often the answer is little more than reverse racism: The white population is blamed. If not this group of whites living today, then whoever it was who was involved in the slave trade of millennia ago.

And speaking of Black History Month, it would be good to include it all. Tell about the black-on-black violence in Africa of that era, when the vanquished in tribal warfare were sold by the victors to Arab slave traders. One can mention the fact that if the defeated had had no monetary value as slaves, they would have been killed and their descendants wouldn't be walking around in Nashville and the United States today — but that's an inconvenient observation that will earn the observer nothing but enmity.

What to do about black crime today? We see the sullen faces of the accused on the nightly news. Someone has been murdered by someone else for a fancy car or to buy illegal drugs. And then, over a period of days the drama gets played out in predictable ways. We learn that the offender has had a harsh life, preferring illegal drugs and rap music to getting an education; the father, nowhere in the picture, abandoned the family years ago; the offender faces life in prison; shall we try him as an adult or as a juvenile? Everyone except the offender will be blamed, especially members of white society.

All the well-worn grievances are played out endlessly. And where, with most answers by whites spurned outright, is the black leadership in these instances? At its worst, it comes from a Louis Farrakhan or an Al Sharpton, charlatans incarnate. A little better can be a Jesse Jackson, but I'm afraid my faint praise here will brand him among his own people as a pawn for whites. No, Jesse Jackson has run his course, squandering his promise and becoming a mere caricature of what he could have been while mutating into a predictable malcontent.

One more complaint. Do you notice all the black resentment these days of Hispanics in our midst? It reminds me of the Kris Kristofferson song about how everybody needs somebody else to look down on. The black indignation is a waste of time and talent. Spend your energy in more fruitful pursuits.

That, my friend, is something the black community needs to hear and heed, painful as it is to face. And now: You're invited to join me in the debate.”

“Thread derailment warning! Thread derailment warning! LOL!”

“dammit, ewker, the question was "what are you reading" as in "what is the title of the book that you are reading" not the whole damn book”

“Ewker,

Well, the question is does a person addressing problems amongst certain blacks or black communities help? I guess it would depend on the individual. If you have a community filled with pregnant young girls who are on welfare and supporting their boyfriends that make believe they don't live in the home and they say they don't know who the father is, I doubt if those kinds of people will react to a "lecture" from some black celebrity. It would be difficult for a young girl like that to decide to get a job and put her child into daycare as it is for a person of any race who is doing the same thing.

The "talks" from black leaders that are anti-white and anti-everyone really only bring their culture down by giving them excuses and perpetuating hate which is counterproductive.

A good lecture would be to get through to young blacks that their future is not dependent on their color and using that as an excuse is just that, an excuse, but again, if someone does not want to work or wants to be a career criminal, the morals are not there, so speaking to them does no good.

I think the "talk" is best given from a child's parents as it always is for any race to have their children to suceed by giving them the tools to suceed as they are growing up. I think we all know adult personalities, ideas, ideals and morals are hard to change.”

“I'm reading Perdido Street Station. It's whacked! (yet interesting)”

“Just started Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. Dunno if it is good or not yet...”

“Magazines are good too when you are in between books. I found an interesting curried potato dish in a veggie mag.

My new Seattle library opened up last year and has a ton of magazines and ones that are not the run of the mill ones.”

“DIE SEAHAWKS!!!”

“"Mr Tompkins in Wonderland" by George Gamow”

“I’m reading a book called To Know and to Care which is a collection of stories about Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneersohn. He was such an amazing man! He used to hand out dollar bills for charity to people and give them his blessings on Sundays. Thousands of people came every week just to see him. Even in his last days he had unbelievable memory. One man had a brief encounter with him in WWII in Paris. Thirty years later the man was in line to get a dollar and a blessing and the Rebbi asked how his wife was and remembered him. Wives who had been married for 20 years and were childless would go to see him and many times without the women saying anything he would give them a dollar and then give them a second one and say, “Here is one for your child. Low and behold within the year they would have a child. Thousands of people have similar stories about him.”

“Right now Im reading Book 2 of Steven Kings Dark Tower series.The Drawing Of The Three.Its alot diferent than His other books!! A good read so far.”

“Great basball book about Tony La Russa and the St Louis Cardinals . A three game series with Chicago Cubs . Well written , exciting description of great basbeball .”

“Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer.


Freaky. Just plain freaky.”

“Hey dicentra, I read that a couple of years ago myself. Good book by a great author. Gotta watch those extreme fundalmentalist of all persuasions. Quite a departure from his other books. My favorite of his is "Into the Wild". I imagine just about everyone on Trailtalk has read it or at least knows about it.”

“Yup. Read that one last year (???) Good stuff! I'm not really a huge fan of his, but the fundamentalist thing has been interesting.

The book would be WAY shorter though if he left out all the quotes from other authors and the footnotes on every other page. That's just annoying. :p”

“I just got a Christmas present in the mail today (ok so it was a tad late)...in it was The VICE Guide to Sex Drugs and Rock & Roll!!! Woohooo, that is the best present ever, I've been wanting that for awhile. They also sent me some other book, and I had been to the library and got 3 other books right before that. I'm in book heaven!”

“In teh past few weeks I have been mostly reading a lot of SF and fantasy ....

'Coyote' and 'Coyote Rising' by Allan Steele

'Building Harlequins Moon' by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper

"Into the looking glass' by John Ringo

'Shamans Crossing' by Robin Hobb”

“Just finished Flashman on the March, great series. Also heard George MacDonald Frazer on the radio this morning, said more are on the way!”

“For Christmas I got Jonathan Waterman's new book about the Artic National Wildlife Refuge called "Where Mountains are Nameless".

Not very far into it yet, but I am enjoying it.”

“Reading 3rd installment of Stuart Wood's Stone Barrington dective series. It's nice to have some series books where you start from their first book so when you put new books on hold in the libary, and as you wait for them, you can easily get one of a series books in quickly since they are older.

I've got his series and the Evanovitch's Stephanie Plum series that I put on hold when I'm waiting for newer more popular books. Actually, the Stephanie Plum series still have holds on them. Maybe with the release of her new book, people are going back to check out her old books.”

“Reading 3rd installment of Stuart Wood's Stone Barrington dective series. It's nice to have some series books where you start from their first book so when you put new books on hold in the libary, and as you wait for them, you can easily get one of a series books in quickly since they are older.

I've got his series and the Evanovitch's Stephanie Plum series that I put on hold when I'm waiting for newer more popular books. Actually, the Stephanie Plum series still have holds on them. Maybe with the release of her new book, people are going back to check out her old books.”

“Don't you love to see a thread you started years ago still alive and well. I am currently reading "Tis". It is Frank Mccourt's followup to "Angelas Ashes".”

“looks like sandy started this thread”

“As usual i'm reading several books at once. The Downfall of American Culture
Philosophy of Shopenhaur
The Tenth Insight
...and trying to keep up with my National Geographics...great spread on the Grand Canyon this month!”

“y2, my biz partner just got that book. I'm going to read it when he finishes. Good to hear more Flashy is on the way.

hyway - good to see you around.

steppenwolf - same, good to see you around.”

“I just started reading A Milloin Little Pieces. I think I'm the last of my friends to read it.”

“Wow, an hour ago a friend just gave me "a million little pieces" to read. wasn't sure I wanted to. Just a brief glimpse through the pages it looked like very bad writing, but maybe this bit of serendipity is telling me to read it.”

“Years ago, I couldn't think of a suitable trail name, so I typed in my wifes name. Steppenwolf is so much better.”

“I'm reading "On the Beaten Path"

Which is some dudes walk on the AT. Last time I tried to read it I found it boring. Now I find it interesting...hmmmmm.....”

“OHMYGAWD! My ex-boyfriend is reading a book!! This guy is hard pressed to read a newspaper article. The most reading I've seen him do is online stats for fantasy football. LOL His new girlfriend is a BIG reader and likes board games. He's reading a book and played Pictionary New Year's Eve!! Now THAT is love! It's surreal to watch. Its cute but spooky. *theme to twilight zone*”

“Man I am so mad at myself. I rodered a book and what came was a book on CD. I'm sure I just didn't read the description right.”

“I finished reading million little pieces and though I enjoyed the book, I only did so because early on I ditched any thought that this was a true story. I believe that he was an addict and went through a tough time to get over it, you can find that in the depth of the pain in his writing. What I didn't believe was that he was really the badass he portrays himself to be, nor that the depths of his drug use was as bad as he indicates nor that any of the people he portrays are as exotic as he describes them. maybe people like he describes were there when he was, i just don't believe they meshed like he says they did.

Anyway, after I finished the book I did a search for anything about the book that wasn't put out by someone trying to sell it. I waited till I was done because even though I believed it was mostly fiction, I was enjoying it and didn't want to have my suspension of disbelief wiped away until I was done. This is what I found, it supports what I believed while reading it http://www.thesmokinggun.com/jamesfrey/0104061jamesfrey1.html

Oprah has been conned”

“transcripts”

“are these transcripts interesting?
last edited: 1/11/06 12:52:33 AM”

“Not in the least. Except the pathetic one about the guy who got kicked out of his health club for allegedly trying to fondle another man against his will while in the hot tub.


Good dirt on the book, hyway. I read 3 pages of TSG story before I got too disgusted with Frey. I have no desire to read the book. I despise shysters.”

“In reality he is a frat boy with a binge problem.”

“Today's Chicago Tribune had their own expose on the dude. Betcha Oprah reads it and goes "D'OH!!!!!!!"”

“Just another Vanilla Ice”

“A Field Guide to American Houses
by Virginia & Lee McAlester

I am such a geek.....

and in my car I am listening to...
Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes”

“I won a book from a radio contest called Discover the Land of Israel. It is a travel book but they go step further and gives stories and facts about the different areas from the Talmud and the Grammora. Stuff like how David and Goliath were actually cousins.”

“Angels and Demons... now that OPIE is done with it! I'm excited because it looks like it's going to be as good as the Divinci Code.”

“Just got Lonely Planets "The Travel Book" in the mail. A visual feast of photos to rival National Geographic. Giddy up!”

“Just got "Centennial" by Michner, on tape, from the library. Read it years ago, and its a good spin about the Co front range.”