Does anybody read books here?

[run it, ride it]

Boo, books! I hate books! Never want to see a book again! Did I mention I'm taking an English degree, and I'm already about two novels and three theorists behind starting the third week of classes?

Hiss, boo! No more books!

[Bad JuJu]

Hey run it, ride it, my degree's in English also. This semester I'm teach a cultural studies approach to Joyce's Dubliners--having a pretty good time so far and just got some pretty good first critical papers.

In spare time, when I'm not cycling (or cleaning the house or walking the dog or grading papers), I'm reading the new biography of Darwin, by David Quammen. Quammen often writes for Outside magazine, and he's just a wonderful writer, and this new bio offers some fresh insights into Darwin's development of his theories. Enormously interesting.

[mlove]

Right now I am mostly reading stuff I am assigning in my history of education class as well as Alan Bennett's play "The History Boys" and Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl.

I read mysteries when I get a chance although I am just as likely to go back to the classics--Austen, Bronte, ****ens, etc. One of my favorite authors, for those of you who like historical fiction (or very funny spy stories) is Dorothy Dunnett. I have used her House of Niccolo series several times when teaching about the 15th century. Colleen McCollough is very good on the late Roman Republic. Both authors did a huge amount of research to write their books.

I do have a small collection of books on cycling too.

[tattiefritter]

Will have to have a proper look through this thread later for some ideas for new books..

I don't get the time to read much these days but recent favourites are the Harry Potter Series (of course) and His Dark Materials, anything by Michael Connolly (the Poet) which is unusual as I don't usually like murder stories.

I went through a phase of reading mountaineering books ( I do a bit of climbing and hill walking but nothing extreme) as I find the characters fascinating. I can recommend "Touching the Void" and "The Beckoning Silence" by Joe Simpson and "The White Spider" by Heinrich Harrer, the story of the first ascents of the North Face of the Eiger, really powerful and involving.