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Thread: What are you reading 2018?

  1. #331
    Senior Member razz's Avatar
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    Just finished Born a Crime today. It was interesting.
    As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

  2. #332
    Senior Member rosarugosa's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gardnr View Post
    Hillbilly Elegy.....interesting read
    I really liked that one too. I believe I first heard about it here.

  3. #333
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rosarugosa View Post
    I really liked that one too. I believe I first heard about it here.
    Hillbilly Elegy was good, agreed. I found it useful to educate me about the strongly held values of a section of rural America. It was illustrative of what one solid stable person ( the grandmother) can do to guide the life of a child, up and out of poverty. But it also illustrated how their deeply held values ( fighting, blowing all their money at Christmastme, etc) keep them from middle class success.

    The author mentions his mentor at law school who encoraged him to write the book. That woman is the Tiger Mom of the book fame.

    I kid that I am part hillbilly because my grandmother was a Hatfield (you know the Hatfields and the McCoys? Yeah she was one of those people.) But My grandmother emphasized education for her 8 children and all of them graduated from high school but for one, and that was a decent achievement for that time.

  4. #334
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rosarugosa View Post
    I just finished "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt. I think you recently mentioned this one IL, and it has been on my list for awhile so I finally grabbed it from the library. I absolutely loved it! Hobie and Boris will definitely go into my personal Pantheon of Most Beloved Fictional Characters.
    Here it is, fall 2018, and I am still sad that The Goldfinch came to an end.

  5. #335
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    I liked Hillbilly Elegy. One can see where bad decisions and lack of positive guidance can make or break the direction of a life. Both of my parents were "mountain-billies" so I always wonder who/what motivated them to gain higher educations and professional careers.

  6. #336
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    Confessions of a Sociopath - A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight Anonymous memoir by a woman who is an admitted and diagnosed sociopath, but leads a basically normal life as a law professor and even teaches Sunday School.
    I had always thought that sociopath = serial killer, but turns out that even though their brains are different, that upbringing and other factors can mean they can function and even be successful in society. She also founded sociopathworld.com Pretty eye-opening, especially considering the stat that 4% of Americans are sociopaths.

  7. #337
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    There's speculation that sociopaths are over-represented in many fields, untroubled as they are by empathy and related impulses.

  8. #338
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JaneV2.0 View Post
    I have that book; I don't mind Maynard's non-fiction--though otherwise, she's not a favorite. I haven't read it yet.
    I am in that pjase of life where I cannot remember what I read last week, but i can remember what I read 35 years ago!
    One of Maynard’s early novels was Baby Love, about a teenage mom. I really liked it.
    Last edited by iris lilies; 11-24-18 at 8:42pm.

  9. #339
    Yppej
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    Even though she is a plagiarist I decided to give Doris Kearns Goodwin's Leadership in Turbulent Times a try and so far I like it.

  10. #340
    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    I started reading Death With Interruptions by Jose Saramago. I am only on page 22, but so far it is good. He is snarky and zinging governments, churches, businesses, and the regular folks too.

    It is a zippy read in that very "Saramago" style.

    The premise of the story seems to be that on January 1st no one dies anymore.

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