What's the last book you read?

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

On May 23, 2016 at 9:31 AM, MormonGator said:

Audible is the most used app on my phone, by a long shot. 

Me too!

[Guest MormonGator]

20 hours ago, LiterateParakeet said:

Me too!

I'm reading "Cheney" by Stephen Hayes. It's a biography of former vice president Cheney. Even if you don't like him it's good biography. It really humanizes him and it reminds you that even people you may not like politically can be loving fathers and husbands and fundamentally good people.

The drawback is that's dull in parts. Sometimes with entire chapters you read them and say "Yes, yes, get on with it please." 

Edited May 25, 2016 by MormonGator

[pam]

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.

[Connie]

Finished A Quiet Heart by Patricia Holland. It's like the LDS woman's guide to gospel introversion. Totally loved it!

[JonnieZ]

I finished Truman G. Madsen a few weeks back. A good biography about a good man. A regret I have from BYU years is that I did not take classes from him or Brother Nibley.

Edited August 1, 2016 by JonnieZ

[JonnieZ]

I just finished Leonard Arrington by Prince. ( Not the artist...) If you like history, and historiography like I do, you will like this book. Another good biography about a good man.

Edited August 4, 2016 by JonnieZ

[Just_A_Guy]

29 minutes ago, JonnieZ said:

I just finished Leonard Arrington by Prince. ( Not the artist...) If you like history, and historiography like I do, you will like this book. Another good biography about a good man.

Haven't read it, though I read and enjoyed Arrington's Adventures of a Church Historian sometime ago.

The main criticism I've seen of Prince's work, is that it mostly uncritically embraces and repeats Arrington's own perceptions about himself and his environment.  As Professor Ben Park put it in a Times and Seasons comment,

Quote

I mostly want to emphasize that Arrington, like any good scholar, is crafting a particular narrative not only through his words and through his actions. The “innocent martyr” label is one he sculpted himself–indeed, the fall of Camelot did as much to cement his legacy among historians as anything else–and we should keep that in mind. I’m not saying he was wrong in his actions any way, or that those who censored him were right, but that scholars should be careful that we are not merely extending Arrington’s own story rather than analyzing it.

(See also Ardis Parshall's comments to the same thread, and Professor Park's fuller response as given to the Mormon History Association, available here.)

[JonnieZ]

Two things: 1) I do think it is a very good book about a very good man, but it seemed, through the whole book, Prince (not the artist), had an axe to grind and 2) Bro. Arrington was either very naive, or so tunnel visioned by his goals he just did not comprehend the advice given to him. I do not believe in Elder Packer's view that "Somethings that are true are not very useful..." yet Bro. Arrington seemed to not catch the message of what "type" of history the brethren wanted written, and (as Prince [not the...you know] suggests) he shot holes in his own canoe. I do not necessarily think he was being passive aggressive but he was playing Risk without enough pieces. He was not a good communicator. More communication might have meant less agony for him in the long run.

Next up: Great Basin Kingdom.

On a side note: Adventures of a Church Historian is on my Amazon wish list. Unfortunately the currentbgoing price is $60. I might find a loaner in the city librarym

[Just_A_Guy]

Try inter-library loan for Adventures of a Church Historian; I really think you'll get a kick out of it (I was a student at BYU when I read it--used the library's copy.  It's been a while, but as I recall Arrington relates a couple of anecdotes of divine manifestations from apostles who were involved in the 1978 priesthood revelation, that you won't necessarily hear anywhere else).

Let me know what you think of Great Basin Kingdom.  I keep telling myself I should read it, but all those people calling it an "economic history" make me wonder how readable the thing is going to be.

Edited August 4, 2016 by Just_A_Guy

[JonnieZ]

25 minutes ago, JonnieZ said:

Two things: 1) I do think it is a very good book about a very good man, but it seemed, through the whole book, Prince (not the artist), had an axe to grind and 2) Bro. Arrington was either very naive, or so tunnel visioned by his goals he just did not comprehend the advice given to him. I do not believe in Elder Packer's view that "Somethings that are true are not very useful..." yet Bro. Arrington seemed to not catch the message of what "type" of history the brethren wanted written, and (as Prince [not the...you know] suggests) he shot holes in his own canoe. I do not necessarily think he was being passive aggressive but he was playing Risk without enough pieces. He was not a good communicator. More communication might have meant less agony for him in the long run.

Next up: Great Basin Kingdom.

On a side note: Adventures of a Church Historian is on my Amazon wish list. Unfortunately the current going price is $60. I might find a loaner in the city library.

 

[JonnieZ]

That is not very good, I tried to edit my literary mess in my previous post and posted my own post. I think the Ambien is kicking in.

[Guest MormonGator]

"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien. I've read it multiple times. It's intense and definitely rated R, but like they say, war isn't pretty. I'm hardly an expert in the genre but I think it's one of the best war novels of all time. 

[Guest]

Alcatraz: Book Five.

It is a serious documentary/autobiography by Alcatraz himself about the secret existence of the Free Kingdoms where glass technology is revealed.  Sentient dinosaurs are anthropologists.  Librarians rule the world with an iron fist over the Hushlands (our known world).

It is only through Alcatraz's Talent for breaking things that has allowed the Free Kingdoms to gain an edge over the Evil Librarians.  Now he's coming for them in their stronghold -- The Highbrary (aka the Library of Congress).

I can't believe he ended the book that way.  And it's the last book he will write.  So we the readers are left without a sense of fulfillment.  But on the very last page, after all the appendices, there is a note of hope.

[Connie]

Looking forward to finishing the Alcatraz books. I'm only on the 2nd.

[anatess2]

I, Robot.

[Iggy]

3 hours ago, anatess2 said:

I, Robot.

Ah, in the move I made 5 moves ago, I lost ALL of my first editions of Isaac Asimov's Robot books. I fell in love with his books when I was traveling the US with first hubby. My BFF lived in Seattle and I would stay with her while hubby went to a new town and got us a place to live for the 2 - 4 weeks he would be at the job site. Her  hubby had just read the Robot Trilogy's, and I ended up reading them while I was there. From the get-go I was more than smitten. Every time I came to Seattle, I ventured to the used bookstores and gathered up not only his published books, but also the science fiction magazines where he sold his short stories to put bread & butter on the table.

I need to get down to Florence OR to the two huge thrift stores and comb through their vast used book selections for his works. EReader just won't do for dear Isaac.

[anatess2]

23 minutes ago, Iggy said:

Ah, in the move I made 5 moves ago, I lost ALL of my first editions of Isaac Asimov's Robot books. I fell in love with his books when I was traveling the US with first hubby. My BFF lived in Seattle and I would stay with her while hubby went to a new town and got us a place to live for the 2 - 4 weeks he would be at the job site. Her  hubby had just read the Robot Trilogy's, and I ended up reading them while I was there. From the get-go I was more than smitten. Every time I came to Seattle, I ventured to the used bookstores and gathered up not only his published books, but also the science fiction magazines where he sold his short stories to put bread & butter on the table.

I need to get down to Florence OR to the two huge thrift stores and comb through their vast used book selections for his works. EReader just won't do for dear Isaac.

My son has been on an Asimov love-fest ever since I gave him the Foundation trilogy a few months ago.  He finished all the Foundation books and is now on the Robot books.  I have to admit I haven't read the Robot books and he looked at me and said... "Mom, I can understand your temper problems but I can't understand how you lived your life without having read I, Robot"... so I read I, Robot.

[Guest MormonGator]

Coreyography by Corey Feldman. Don't judge me! I like trashy celebrity autobiographies! 

This one was good. The guy is a bit of a train wreck but I still had a lot of sympathy for him. He's made some bad choices but he's also a bit of a victim of circumstance. Either way, I enjoyed the book. 

[Sunday21]

The woman on the train- a great thriller. Mormon friendly. I could not put it down

[LadyGator]

I am currently re-reading the entire Harry Potter series. I LOVE these books, among my all time favorites. 

[Sunday21]

4 hours ago, LadyGator said:

I am currently re-reading the entire Harry Potter series. I LOVE these books, among my all time favorites. 

I am rereading these too! I am just about to start the 4th goblet of fire. Where are you?

[LadyGator]

12 hours ago, Sunday21 said:

I am rereading these too! I am just about to start the 4th goblet of fire. Where are you?

I am in the middle of book 2 Chamber of Secrets. I only started last weekend though

[Maureen]

Since Poldark is now a tv series on PBS, I've been re-reading my Poldark novels.

M.

[Sunday21]

Jew Store by Stella Suberman. The story of a Jewish family in the early 20th century who leave New York City to run a small dry goods store in the southern us. They are the only Jews in town, hence the name of the store. Incredibly well written.

[Sunday21]

On 2016-11-21 at 11:27 AM, LadyGator said:

I am in the middle of book 2 Chamber of Secrets. I only started last weekend though

I am in deathly gallows. When you get done, let me know.