Connie

The last book i read was Princess of the Wild Swans by Diane Zahler. It is a children's fairy tale about a princess who must save her older brothers from an enchantment. It was a cute story. I enjoyed it. It is a great book for young girls.
What is the last book you read? Did you like it? What was it about? Would you recommend it to others?

I got through J & H as an audiobook as well! 

Moby Dick: the chapter on white! Ahhh!
huckleberrt Finn: I only read it because it was the only book in the house.
don Quixote - just could not read it!
same with Love and Peace. Started it many times.

Same with me for Moby Dick and Frankenstein!

For church books, my favorite is 'A God Who Weeps'. It sounds like it's read by Mary Poppins (Sister Givens).

I agree that Dune (Macmillan Audio with Scott Brick, etc,....) is amazing. One of the best because they use different actors for the voices. My next favorite is Harry Potter by Jim Dale (amazing, he does all the voices from the move) followed by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy narrated by Stephen Fry.
 

I listen to quite a few audio books, mostly while commuting to and from work.
I don't know that I have favorites. Orson Scott Card, in commenting on some of his audio books, has commented that his writing style is with the intent that his books would be read aloud. For the most part, I have enjoyed many of his books read aloud.
Frank Herbert's Dune was a good listen.
I have enjoyed several children's books, such as The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and others.
I wrote a post about the audio book version of The African Queen here 5 years ago.
And so on and so forth, some memorable and some not so memorable.
As I have gotten older, I find that I don't like to listen to music as much as I used to. Talk radio can be more interesting, but political talk gets tiresome quickly and sports radio doesn't always hold my attention. I find audio books a nice diversion while driving.

Anecdotal story time:
 
I had the opportunity several years ago to go to dinner with the temple president in Uruguay. (We were there working on the temple.) He told us of how his calling came about.
He said that he and his wife were shopping at Walmart when he received a call on his cell that asked if he was available to speak with President Hinckley. He very anxiously said yes. 
President Hinckley then got on the phone asked if he would be willing to accept the call to be the temple president. When he replied yes, but that he needed to discuss it with his wife, President Hinckley asked, "Well, is she there? Go ahead, I'll wait." 
After they accepted the call, then began weeks of the most grueling and lengthy vetting processes that the temple president said he would have imagined.
His wife, who was also present at dinner with us, said that had she known the process would have been so intrusive, she probably would not do it again. Every detail of their lives was discussed. She said that they were answering questions about purchases they had made for their home, the color of shoes her husband wore to Sacrament meeting, and especially all kinds of questions about bills that had been paid late over 20 years ago. (Apparently being in charge of temple funds comes with some SERIOUS questions about responsibility and etiquette...) 
 
We found all of this to be completely fascinating and hung on every word. It caused me to look hard at my life to see how qualified I am to be called should it ever be the case. 
 
I only share this story as such an experience obviously was significant in their lives. It was special enough to where their experience made an impact in my life and the lives of my coworkers. So, while experiences come and go in life, the interactions we have with those acting in service of the Lord can become life altering events for ourselves and others. 
 
Just felt like I should share. 

I would be interested in seeing a list of her good qualities. I assume she has some or you wouldn’t have married her in the first place or stay married to her. Do you regularly tell her why you love her and encourage her goodness? There’s a lot to be said for seeing the potential in people—seeing them as they could be—that really encourages them to become better.

I expected as much from you, dear anatess. But Vort is usually much more thoughtful in his movie reviews. He likely doesn’t want to take the time and effort to more minutely go through a movie he so thoroughly detested, and that’s certainly understandable. But repetitively stating “it was stupid” doesn’t make for a helpful review, particularly for those who haven’t seen it yet. And I have enjoyed reading his reviews in the past because, even if I find myself disagreeing, I can at least say, “okay, I can see why a person could see it that way."

I expected as much from you, dear anatess. But Vort is usually much more thoughtful in his movie reviews. He likely doesn’t want to take the time and effort to more minutely go through a movie he so thoroughly detested, and that’s certainly understandable. But repetitively stating “it was stupid” doesn’t make for a helpful review, particularly for those who haven’t seen it yet. And I have enjoyed reading his reviews in the past because, even if I find myself disagreeing, I can at least say, “okay, I can see why a person could see it that way."

I expected as much from you, dear anatess. But Vort is usually much more thoughtful in his movie reviews. He likely doesn’t want to take the time and effort to more minutely go through a movie he so thoroughly detested, and that’s certainly understandable. But repetitively stating “it was stupid” doesn’t make for a helpful review, particularly for those who haven’t seen it yet. And I have enjoyed reading his reviews in the past because, even if I find myself disagreeing, I can at least say, “okay, I can see why a person could see it that way."

I didn't think the movie was nearly so bad.
The biggest problem with Dawn of Justice is that it was trying to do way too much.  Rather than keep the story simple, it tried to simultaneously introduce several characters and separate story threads all at once and it became overly complex.  It felt like someone took a Batman movie script and a Superman movie script, shuffled the pages together, and shot the movie.  Oh right, and they added in the finale from an unwritten Wonder Woman movie at the end for the twist.
I liked Ben Affleck a LOT as Batman.  Best Batman I've ever seen in a live action movie, hands down.  Yes, that includes Christian Bale.  He was wasted in this film but thankfully we'll see him in more.  (Such as Suicide Squad, which my wife and I saw the other night.)  I also liked this Lex Luthor.  People complain a lot about how different he was from previous versions of Luthor but to me, that's a good thing.  How many different ways can you re-invent the same character without trying something truly different?
I think the themes they were trying to explore were good ones, and probably would have been successful in a less bloated movie.  The question of Superman's deification was well worth more exploration than it got.  The notion of Humanity looking to have a safeguard in the event that a character like Superman were to become less than ultra-honorable is an interesting one and also should have been explored more - but maybe in a separate film. 
So ultimately this movie is a vein of emeralds that you have to mine out for yourself, but it's there.  I'd say it's worth watching.

Well Vorty, you spend an awful lot of time saying how stupid it was and very little on why exactly you feel that way. :shrug: I didn't think it was any stupider than the last Captain America movie. In fact, i thought it was quite a bit less stupid. But that one was really stupid so that wasn't too hard.

I got married young by today’s standards. I was 20 years old. Getting married young and starting to have kids right away has been the most intense learning experience of my life. And 16 years later I’m still learning and growing. For me, this has been the best way I could learn about my Heavenly Father and His work to “bring about the immortality and eternal life” of His children. He is, after all, first and foremost a father. What better way to learn about Him than by becoming a parent myself and relying on Him for help in my parental role.
I think humans are given such varying life experiences because we each have our own individual journey. We all learn in different ways and are each on a different level of learning. So, yes, we should be focused on learning to grow closer to the character and intelligence of God in the context of the experiences He chooses to send to us individually. Turn to Him in all things and ask what He would have you learn from your current circumstances.

I got married young by today’s standards. I was 20 years old. Getting married young and starting to have kids right away has been the most intense learning experience of my life. And 16 years later I’m still learning and growing. For me, this has been the best way I could learn about my Heavenly Father and His work to “bring about the immortality and eternal life” of His children. He is, after all, first and foremost a father. What better way to learn about Him than by becoming a parent myself and relying on Him for help in my parental role.
I think humans are given such varying life experiences because we each have our own individual journey. We all learn in different ways and are each on a different level of learning. So, yes, we should be focused on learning to grow closer to the character and intelligence of God in the context of the experiences He chooses to send to us individually. Turn to Him in all things and ask what He would have you learn from your current circumstances.

I got married young by today’s standards. I was 20 years old. Getting married young and starting to have kids right away has been the most intense learning experience of my life. And 16 years later I’m still learning and growing. For me, this has been the best way I could learn about my Heavenly Father and His work to “bring about the immortality and eternal life” of His children. He is, after all, first and foremost a father. What better way to learn about Him than by becoming a parent myself and relying on Him for help in my parental role.
I think humans are given such varying life experiences because we each have our own individual journey. We all learn in different ways and are each on a different level of learning. So, yes, we should be focused on learning to grow closer to the character and intelligence of God in the context of the experiences He chooses to send to us individually. Turn to Him in all things and ask what He would have you learn from your current circumstances.

You might be interested in the discussion thread from the book club forum about this book. Here's a linky (hope it works).
 

You might be interested in the discussion thread from the book club forum about this book. Here's a linky (hope it works).
 

I don't read a lot of contemporary stuff, most of what i read is historical or classical. 
But this was one i really enjoyed: The Methuselah Project by Rick Barry. Lol, come to think of it this one has some historical in it, too. See how i am.

Not fiction, per se, but Carry On, Mr. Bowditch ought to be mandatory reading for every child before age 12. Most adults should read it, too.
It is fictionalized, so not a true biography, and not fiction. Where, oh where, to classify it?
Lehi

I would be interested in seeing a list of her good qualities. I assume she has some or you wouldn’t have married her in the first place or stay married to her. Do you regularly tell her why you love her and encourage her goodness? There’s a lot to be said for seeing the potential in people—seeing them as they could be—that really encourages them to become better.

http://www.mormondialogue.org/ is a good one for heavier topics and debate. 

I just finished the biography for Thomas S. Monson.  It was completed before his wife Frances passed away so it is only to prior to that.
If I didn't have an admiration for the man before, I certainly do now.  I don't know how one person could accomplish so much in one lifetime. Makes my life seem so trivial.

Life of Pi. Artful, engaging, beautifully wrought movie with nothing but empty cynicism at its core. I'm not unhappy I watched it, but I doubt I will ever spend the time to watch it again.