What are you reading in 2012?

[Rogar]

I had started "Dying to Be Me" by Anita Moorjani mid-summer and finally finished it off. It was an impulsive purchase after being caught watching Wayne Dyer on the PBS beg-a-thon. Anita has terminal cancer and goes to the hospital as her organs start shutting down. Near death, she goes into a coma and has a near death experience. Her NDE tells her it is not her time and she returns to her body for a total recovery and miraculous cancer remission. Her case seems well documented and has astonished doctors. Slightly new agey and a decent library read if you're into that sort of thing, but not worth the price of a new book.

[KayLR]

Now reading "Kitchen Confidential," by Anthony Bourdain.

[San Onofre Guy]

Prague Winter by Madeline Albright. Those in eastern europe have had a rough time of it for centuries.

[Cypress]

That Summer in Sicily by Marlena De Biasi

[catherine]

I had started "Dying to Be Me" by Anita Moorjani mid-summer and finally finished it off. It was an impulsive purchase after being caught watching Wayne Dyer on the PBS beg-a-thon. Anita has terminal cancer and goes to the hospital as her organs start shutting down. Near death, she goes into a coma and has a near death experience. Her NDE tells her it is not her time and she returns to her body for a total recovery and miraculous cancer remission. Her case seems well documented and has astonished doctors. Slightly new agey and a decent library read if you're into that sort of thing, but not worth the price of a new book.

I had the exact same experience--saw that PBS Wayne Dyer show and downloaded Moorjani's book on my Kindle. Read it quickly. Definitely reads as one of those metaphysical "miracles." I thought it was interesting--my key takeaway was the inspiration to live your own life.

[JaneV2.0]

Prague Winter by Madeline Albright. Those in eastern europe have had a rough time of it for centuries.

I'm quite fond of Madeleine Albright, but being shallow and easily distracted by shiny objects, I've only read (looked at) her Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box.

And, further blowing up any gravitas I ever laid claim to, I'm currently reading Real Aliens, Space Beings, and Creatures From Other Worlds, by Steiger and Steiger. And listening to the Dixie Chicks.

[AmeliaJane]

I have been reading short books here and there, including a book called "Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit-Down" about the English practice of tea-drinking and a couple of YA books and graphic novels. My big achievement was finishing "The Way We Live Now" by Anthony Trollope. I have been reading in brief installments for over a year now (Trollope is LONG) and finally finished today. I didn't like it as well as the books I've read from his Barsetshire series (those are very warm-hearted, and most of the characters in The Way We Live Now are not all that likable for a lot of the book) but it was an interesting read especially as I read Hard Times by Charles Dickens in the spring, and they are two very different perspectives on English life in the 19th century.

[beckyliz]

The AGe of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. Story told through the eyes of an 11 or 12 year old girl of what happens when the earth's rotation starts to slow. I read it within 48 hours on a very busy weekend. Well-written and lots of food for thought.

[Rogar]

I just finished Little Heathens by Elizabeth Gilbert. It is the reminisce of the author's childhood growing up on an Iowa farm during the Great Depression. In some ways it removes romantic notions of working hard from dusk to dawn as a young girl doing farm chores and helping with cooking and household chores. In other ways it brings back some of the magic of old time home remedies, cooking recipes, simple entertainment, country life, and sense of family and community that have been forgotten. It has several old recipes, a few of which I am tempted to try. I found it to be a wonderful window into a simpler but more difficult time and place.

The author later becomes a professor of English, so it is an easy, entertaining, and well written read.

[Lainey]

I just finished Little Heathens by Elizabeth Gilbert. It is the reminisce of the author's childhood growing up on an Iowa farm during the Great Depression. In some ways it removes romantic notions of working hard from dusk to dawn as a young girl doing farm chores and helping with cooking and household chores. In other ways it brings back some of the magic of old time home remedies, cooking recipes, simple entertainment, country life, and sense of family and community that have been forgotten. It has several old recipes, a few of which I am tempted to try. I found it to be a wonderful window into a simpler but more difficult time and place.

The author later becomes a professor of English, so it is an easy, entertaining, and well written read.

I second the recommendation for Little Heathens. Growing up on a farm in the Depression meant you had enough to eat but you worked for it every single day. And I remember the scene where as a young girl she contracted blood poisoning and when the doctor said she had to rest to recover, her siblings looked at her with ENVY because she did not have to do her chores. Yikes.