Banner Sponsors
For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
I Know all good bearmakers should be busy stitching and stuffing from dawn to dusk each and every day, but surely a little 'me' time with a good book can't be a bad thing?
It's early summer here in the UK and one of my great pleasures is to sit in my deckchair while the sun shines and the birds sing, with my nose in a book.
It's hard to choose a favourite book, but I can think of one or two I haven't wanted to end ...
'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' by Louis de Berniere is a fabulous story, set on the Greek Isle of Kephalonia. If you've seen the wonderful film, you've missed half of the book!
Recently I immersed myself in 'The history of love' by Nicole Krauss ... poor Leo Gursky broke my heart. What a talented creator of unique characters this writer is.
At the moment I'm back with Louis de Berniere and can't put down his 'Birds without wings'. I've even found myself reading it at 4am!!
So, come on, I can't be the only bookworm here, what are you reading now and what have you loved reading in the past?
Kim-Bee BearsI am going to start Memoirs of a Geisha shortly 
I read 'Memoirs of a Gheisa' too Kim ... it's a great read! Really colourful and exotic and yet shocking too.
I just finished reading the book "Wicked" my son gave it to me. It is the life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Wizard of Oz fame) We used to live in the town where L. Frank Baum, the author of the Wizard of Oz was born, and I always dressed as the Wicked Witch for Oz Day and Halloween......so my son thought I should find out more about Elphaba! she is a very interesting person, and was not wicked at all. I am now waiting for my son to give me "Son of a Witch"
pandamac
They may be corny... but I LOVE the series of "The Cat Who..." by Lillian Jackson Braun. I read and re-read those books every day at lunch! For me it's like visiting with old friends.
I also adore the Mysteries by Sue Grafton, Janet Evonovich & Dick Francis!
Ummmm... did I ever mention that at one time I used to want to be a police officer???? 
Baird'sBears I love "The Cat Who . . . " mysteries too, Laura! I stole an armload of them from my daughter 
Right now I'm reading Kensaburo Oe's "Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness" and Solzhenitzyn's "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich"--one of my students has to compare them. Neither is exactly summer reading!
Eileen
Apple Dumpling DesignsI'm a huge book fan. I recently read...
The DaVinci Code
Angels & Demons (same author...same main character)
Middlesex
The Life of Pi
The Narnia books (7 total)...which I read as a kid and loved.
and of course I've ALL the Harry Potter books. At one time I was reading all the books from Oprahs Book Club as she announced them. I'm WAAAAAAAAAY behind.
Before all my eye issues I use to read at least one sometimes two novels a week. One of the English professors at the college I worked for use to brings me books all the time. It was like borrowing from the Library with no due date. I miss him!!
P.S. Kim...yes Memoirs is wonderful. I read it before it was a big hit.
Oh...and when I was a kid I had EVERY Nancy Drew book every published...ALL first editions. And...no I don't have them anymore...dang it.
Does non-fiction count?
I'm immersed in "Passing the Flame," by Corina Tettinger.
Newcastle, OntarioI hope non-fiction counts, Shelli - that's pretty much all I read. I've just re-read the "Isaiah Effect" by Greg Braden, and I also finished "Where God Lives" by Dr. Melvin Morse and Shadow Syndromes by John Rately. I've always been fascinated with books on Philosophy, Psychology and Religion. One of the best books I have every read, which helped immensely in my relationship with our daughter as a teenager is "Control Theory" by William Glasser. Just call me boring. However, my daughter bought me "The DaVinci Code" for part of my mothers day gift and hubby is bringing it home with him tonight. I want to read it before I see the movie.
I always loved mystery books when I was younger especially Agatha Christie but could never finish without reading the last chapter, so I figured what was the point LOL!
hugs,
Brenda
You girls have TIME to read?!! :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:
Warmest hugs, :hug:
Aleta
Apple Dumpling DesignsI always loved mystery books when I was younger especially Agatha Christie but could never finish without reading the last chapter, so I figured what was the point LOL!
I always race through them and then have this HUGE let down when I done....I want the story to just keep going on and on. Some books I just get so immersed in the characters it's hard to let them go. I also love non-fiction but can't think of any I've read lately.
PottersHouse BearsRight now I am busy painting and wallpapering. When finished, I will start "The End of the Spear"
You girls have TIME to read?!! :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:
Warmest hugs, :hug:
Aleta
Not really Aleta! I do try to steal a little time now and again in daylight hours, but mainly I find myself reading most mornings as the dawn chorus strikes up at 4am!!! Madness!! 
I'm reading "Simple Abundance" a couple of pages each night before retiring. Just don't have time to read. I know, I know, one usually finds time to do what they want to do, guess I don't want to read that badly.
Hugs,
Wanda
'Bear' Bottoms Originalswell, I have no time to read,
but I HAVE recently read and loved:
The DaVinci Code
all the Harry Potter Books
The Hobbit and the first Lord Of The Rings book
The Outsiders
The Yearling
I WANT to read:
Memoirs of a Geisha
I also keep wanting to write a trashy romance novel REALLY BAD! LOL I have written a young adult's fantasy novel called 'The Aldic Stone' my first and only published book. I reread it now and I see a lot of wording mistakes I made as a first timer.... ha! Once my lousy contract expires in 6 years, I want to rewrite it (because I thought the storyline was still good! lol) and re publish it with a better publishing company. My present pub. company is charging $24.95 for a paperback!!!!!!!! Who's going to pay that?!?!?!?! Should have read the fine print. hmmmmm
Kimberly W.
How about...The Art of Felt-making....and a camera manual...can't put them down especially the camera manual!!!! LOL
BrisbaneI am a real mystery sucker also...anything by Dick Francis, Clive Cussler, Jonathon or Fay Kellerman etc etc
any books at all really
Sunnie BearsI just finished The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks and am now hot and heavy into the Wives Club by Parley J Cooper.. a trashy Hollywood novel about the executives wives lol
Sonya
Starlite BearsVirtually all I read for pleasure is Science Fantasy or Science Fiction :redface: I just love dragons, witches, warlocks, demons and every type of creature that is fantastical!!
No sensible books for me I like to live in a dream world!!
as for Non - fiction - well I read student assessments day in day out - oh wait a minute those can be works of fiction 
No time for reading much just now - too busy to get the opportunity - maybe in summer!!
:hug:
Kim-Bee BearsI WANT to read:
Memoirs of a Geisha
You can borrow it when I am done if you want
If I'm not reading, I'm not happy and me in a grumpy mood is not pretty. Luckily I get an hour and a half's guilt free reading time while I commute to work - it's too bumpy to sew and yes I have tried!!
I'm rereading my Jane Austen books at the moment....am currently in the middle of Emma which is my favorite bt I haven't read it for a good 6 or 7 years.
I just read Lucky by Alice Sebold (author of the Lovely Bones. Subject matter not pretty - it's the true account of her rape at age 18 or 19 but one of those books that is very compelling.
My favourite escape author is Marian Keyes and I quite like Janet Evanovich too.
When I go back to do my master's I'm hoping to do my thesis on novels based on fairy tales. This is a fast growing genre and one I find really intersting. I would recommend The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale and Beauty by Robin McKinley to anyone to read - don't dismiss them because they are YA fiction.
I'm not a great non-fiction reader but I have read all of Bill Bryson's books (still struggling my way through A short history of Everything) and I love reading non-fiction foodie books - MFK Fisher, Elizabeth David, Jeffrey (sp) Steingarten et al.
BrozZ BearZMy favourite book ever would have to be 'Artemis Fowl'. I don't think may people on here have read it.
'Bear' Bottoms OriginalsHey Kim, thanks! But you know what? I already have a copy of it, have for years, but never got a chance to read it yet!!! LOL
I need a break! lol
Kimberly W.
Jellybelly BearsVirtually all I read for pleasure is Science Fantasy or Science Fiction :redface: I just love dragons, witches, warlocks, demons and every type of creature that is fantastical!!
No sensible books for me
as for Non - fiction - well I read student assessments day in day out - oh wait a minute those can be works of fiction
No time for reading much just now - too busy to get the opportunity - maybe in summer!!
:hug:
me too Anne, love fantasy. Love terry brooks, tolkien etc etc etc. Who could go past lotr 
I also love fantasy pic books ;)
xo sarah
ToadBriarI have heard of, but not read, Artemis Fowl
I looooove short story horror anthologies. Stephen King's short story collections
like Skeleton Crew, Different Seasons, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, etc
are pretty much utterly delicious reading indulgence perfection for me. I could use
some new books but I spent $25 of pin money on renewing my flickr.com membership,
so I am rereading some stuff for a bit. I think it's '100 Ghastly Little Ghost Stories' right
now, one of Barnes & Noble's collection series which really is quite better than one might expect.
I recently finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Cell, The Year's
Best Horror 16, & a couple of Kathy Reichs thrillers.
Mom burns through a mess of Robert B. Parker's Spenser mysteries which she picks up
cheap at book sales. Then she offloads them on me by the sackful. So I keep track of
the adventures of Spenser, Hawk, Susan, & Pearl as well as I used to know Nancy,
Bess, & George.
Do any of you fantasy fans like Terry Pratchett? He's wicked good fun, Mort I think is my
favorite book of his.
I love Lord of the Rings - reread it every couple years since 6th grade & get something
new out of it each time. I only watched the first film of the recent movies, because while
it WAS well done & gorgeous, I already knew the story so well it was hard to sit through
the movie!
For nonfiction, Oliver Sacks & Desmond Morris have been pretty good. One of my
favorites to revisit is called A Natural History of the Senses. I don't recall the author
but amazon will know. It's wonderful. I do enjoy some true crime, if it gives insight
into the mindset & psychology of the criminal. John S. Douglas' Mindhunter &
subsequent books are my favorite of that genre. In Cold Blood by Capote is the first
of that type I'd read, & it really remains a favorite.
Oh & I have subscriptions to Quilting Arts & Fortean Times, if that adds any further
insight into my psyche! :lol:
It's pretty funny in a ghastly sort of way. My amazon.com recommendations are all:
Sexual Homicide Patterns & Motives, Grisly Horrific Murders, Serial Killers, The Real Jack
the Ripper, etc etc etc & then.........How to Make Teddy Bears!
