What are you reading in September 2013?

It's been a while since we saw activity in this group. Shall we see if we can pick it up again?

There should be a few more people who are over sixty now than there were the last time we had a current-reading thread.

I just finished The Real Wizard of Oz: The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum by Rebecca Loncraine. She sometimes over-enthuses about influences (in the "surely his children always afterward associated the scent of taffy and popcorn with that story" vein) but he was an interesting character so it was a good read nonetheless.

I am very slowly making my way to the end of The Mystery of Existence. It will not solve the mystery. It is, however, enlightening as to how the question must be asked and what some of the stumbling blocks are in approaching an answer. Why is there something rather than nothing indeed?

Robert

Just finished Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain. It is a work of fiction based on the Eugenics Project, in place in many states until as late as 1978. Very interesting.

I am halfway through the brilliantly researched book, Boy Soldiers of the Great War (2005) by Richard Van Emden. I know my profile says I am reading Winning of the Golden Spurs (1911) by Percy F. Westerman, but as I have read it several times before it doesn't count.

Nigel

I'm about to finish (well, in a couple of days if I'm lucky) The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh and a current ER ARC, Billy Collins's collection Aimless Love. Then I have to put down the first volume of Shelby Foote's The Civil War in order to pick up Manhunt by James L. Swanson for a program that I have to give in November.
My idea about retirement was that I would have plenty of time to read, but it's not working out exactly that way. Reading is my goal though.
(Mitford & Waugh = wit and malice in about equal proportions; Collins = charming most of the time although some of the charm is wearing a little thin here near the end; Foote = massive)

I've just finished Rob Roy by W. Scott and then read James's The Turn of the Screw, both of which I enjoyed quite a bit. Now, I'm reading Wharton's The Reef and will follow that up with Ivanhoe.

Trying $aved, by Ben Hewitt: important themes treated -- so far -- with a smarmy, post-adolescent smugness. I'll keep trying till my fuze blows -- or until I find something I didn't already know.

7: Do you have a nice old, well-seasoned hardcover edition of Ivanhoe lined up? I have that on my library list and hope I can get a copy from the 1930s set that's been the source of the other Scott novels I've read.

In re #9. Meredy, I think I can help you out. I have multiples, and though the one I'm thiubnk-of is probably not from the set you've used, it's a nice old copy. Please advise. -- Goddard

9: No. I have the complete works of Walter Scott on my Kindle. I fought e-readers for years, but got a Kindle as a gift. Tried it, loved it, now, even though I may have a physical book, if I can find an inexpensive Kindle edition I'd rather read it that way. I can read 1,000+ page tomes as easily and comfortably as a 50 page short story.

10: Thanks--I sent you a PM.

11: That's the sort of advantage that will probably make me capitulate in the end, although I haven't yet. The last time we went on vacation, I hauled about 12 pounds of wrist-cracking books. I kept thinking, "This could all be stored in just a few ounces..."

I've spent a good part of the last year on an epic fantasy kick, George R.R. Martins 5 (so far) books of his Song of Ice and Fire and the first three books of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I think I need a break. So have started Hollywood by Gore Vidal. I think it is number five in his nine book of his Narratives of Empire series. I've read (and enjoyed) a few others Lincoln, 1876 and Burr.

I just got The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi, aka "Kung Fu goes to college", by Peter Wayne, PHD.

"Conventional Medical Science in the Chinese art of Tai Chi now shows what Tai Chi masters have known for centuries: regular practice leads to more vigor and flexibility, better balance and mobility, and a sense of well-being. Cutting-edge research from Harvard Medical School also supports long-standing claims that Tai Chi also has a beneficial impact on the health of the heart, bones, nerves and muscles, immune system, and the mind. This research provides fascinating insight into the underlying physiological mechanisms that explain how Tai Chi actually works."

Two blubs:

"The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi is a significant milestone in the integration of Eastern and Western medicine. It deftly summarizes the scientific evidence for the healing potential of this traditional Chinese system of body movement and gives readers practical advice for using it in everyday life. I recommend it highly.”
--Andrew Weil, MD, author of 8 weeks to Optimum Health. Professor of Medicine, University of Arizona

“Dr. Wayne gives us a magnificent and useful contribution for the betterment of our health and well-being through the proper integration of Tai Chi into our lives.”
---Herbert Benson, MD, author of The Relaxation Response,
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Eisenhower in War and Peace Jean Edward Smith

My current primary reading matter is Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, long overdue for my attention.