What books are you reading?

Let’s talk about reading. What are you reading or what was the last book you read? And share a few lessons from it.

At the moment I read e-books. The last book I read is “Conversations with Millionaires”
by Mike Litman and the present one is “The Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Graham; I download both from www.oxcheck.net

Two lesson I learnt from “Conversations with Millionaires.” One, find enough reasons to do something and force or punish yourself to do it. The second is, save and buy what will bring value to your work, business, or life.

What are you reading?

[Fjord]

So, how much to download an e-book from www.oxcheck.net?

[Pooky]

I have just completed Casanegra authored by my favorite fiction writer, Tananarive Due(www.tananarivedue.com), Steven Barnes, Tananarive’s husband(http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/steven-barnes/), and Blair Underwood(www.Blairunderwood.com).

I am sure Blair Underwood is a part of this collaboration to pull in folks who don’t know Tananarive and Steven. I don’t believe he wrote any of the pages in this book. If I am wrong Blair, ise sorry. Tananarive writes suspense, fantasy and the supernatural. She makes you believe the unbelievable and the people are very real every day folks you know. A few of them just have some serious quirks.

Steven Barnes writes speculative and science fiction. His books generally deal with ancient Africans.

Casanegra is sort of an erotic, love, suspense, and who done it story. However, the erotic aspect maybe covered a total of 8 pages. I wish every woman had a man who can do it like Tennyson. Hey!

I enjoyed the book. It was a fun read, and worth my money. Oh yeah, I will buy anything written by Tananarive.

Great Sky Woman

I read this book of Steven Barnes a couple of weeks ago. He is an excellent writer. Lion’s Blood was my first experience with this author. He turned history on its head. What would the world have been liked if the Africans were the conquerors, rather than the conqured? The story is about ancient man, Africans, who lived in the shadows of Mt. Kilamarjo, in Tanzania.

What I like about Tananarive Due is that the black men, who are generally the primary characters, are not caricatures, but fully developed human beings.

Okay, those where my fun and easy reads. Reading those books was like eating a bowl of vanilla ice crème, without the calories. I am back to something serious. I am currently reading Faith Vision: Treatments of the Sacred, Spiritual, and Supernatural in Twentieth-Century African American Fiction authored by James W. Coleman. I am only on page four.

[Pooky]

I am currently reading these books simultaneously:

The Handbook of Yoruba Religious Concepts
Baba Ifa Karade
I have a basic interest in the Yoruba religion and have read a few books on the subject. This seems like an interesting one. I let y'all know later what I really think of it.

Trouble in my mind
Leon Litwack
I really love this historian. His writing style is so easy that you forget that you are suppose to be learning something. There are no pretentions. His works are written for the masses. He is one of the very few white historians I will read. He is unusual that he tells the truth and is not bias.

This book is about Jim Crow and the awful affects on the black population.

Stepping on the Blues:
The Visible Rhythms of African American Dance
I am really enjoying this book also. I look forward to reading further.

[smilee]

I am currently reading these 2 books:

Out of Africa - a memoir by Isak Dinesen

&

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

[E_Pluribus_Unum]

currently i am reading

Men of men by Wilbur Smith

[rossy]

I am currently reading Accident by Danielle Steel.

[Pooky]

Beverly Jenkins - Indigo
I am completely in love with this author. I have not read a romance novel since I was fifteen. I lost complete interest in them. However, I discovered this wonderful author by accident. I am completely hooked. I own all of her books now. She writes historical and contemporary romance novels. However, I love her historicals more because she incorporate AA history and what the folks where experiencing them. She also includes a bibliography at the end. A woman after my own heart. She is a history buff.

Anyway, Indigo is about an ex-slave woman who was a slave on an indigo plantation. Her purple hands will mark her as an ex-slave to the grave. Her escape is arranged at the age of 8, and she is delivered to her paternal aunt. Her aunt’s house and other homes in the neighborhood act as stations (Underground Railroad) stations to hide runaways. The house Hester lives in has secret compartments.

With the passage of the Fugitive Act, no person of African descent is safe. The law gives whites and owners and whites pretending to own folks to the power to abduct any black person they want and sell them back into slaver in the Deep South. Thousands of escaped slaves and free black are terrified of being abducted. Many of them leave their homes and head to Canada.

The blacks have to be careful because slave catcher or simply kidnappers are always lurking. You can’t trust anybody, even other blacks.

Anyway, Galen who is eventually Hester love interest has been severely beaten by the slave catchers and he is rescued and hidden in an underground secret compartment in Hester’s house. Galen is a Creole from Louisiana. You know the Creoles brag about their French fathers, but ignore their African mamas. He is a part of the Underground Railroad.

Eventually, Ga.len and Hester get together as man and wife. He takes her to LA to because his grandmamma has died. Grandmama disowned his mother because she married out of her class and a damn lowly darkskinned “African.” Galen knows that most of the Creoles will not treat Hester well.

I love Ms. Beverly she gives you a good story and imparts some history on you easily. Her romance novels aren’t your typical fare. I have read this book twice. Her books are just very enjoyable reads


PS Y'all I have to take a brake from the serious stuff.

Amazon

Amazon

[busanga]

Are Men Necessary?: When Sexes Collide by Maureen Dowd

and

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

I dont see myself finishing any of em until Xmas.

[Soul Sista]

The Fall of a Wall Street Lawyer, Eat What you Kill by Milton Regan Jr.

[Vade Mecum]

I am currently reading a literary classic OROONOKO.

[NextLevel]

Never Eat Alone - Keith Ferrazzi
What Got You Here Won't Get You There - Marshall Goldsmith

[IkennaUgwu]

...Whaooo...Happy I stumbled on this part of the square...I read a lot of books at the same time...interesting but sometimes they take longer to read...

...Million Dollar Habits by Brian Tracy
This book is amazing for those who want to dig deep into the go-getter mentality. It just gives practical steps on how to build confidence and take charge, ownership of the direction of your life. Initially when I saw the book, I felt this might be one of these get rich quick stuff...but it sure goes deeper than that. Basic lesson:
-The future is yours if you decide today to own its process
-Self-confidence, self-concept, basic beliefs and values are things that will shoot you to the top.
-We all have the capacity to double our productivity, the happiness we enjoy and the freedom and pleasure we desire.
-Silence, meditation, physical exercise, nature among others are the trigger bottons for creativity.

Guys Brian Tracy teaches a lot through that. If you can lay your hands on his audio CD "The Psychology of Achievement"...that is a transforming tips. Only if you have the discipline to follow through. Stop allowing others to think your thought...go like Napolean Hill says...whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe...it can achieve.

-'The King of Torts' by John Grisham

Yes...I am not yet finished with Grisham. Though his story lines are always going to be the same in one way or the other...each of his work has its particularity that gives verve to your dialogue with the pagers.

A young lawyer originally dedicated to Community Service suddenly vies into the world of Greed. Making money by shortchanging innocent people and yet not finding happiness at the end...it reinforces my belief that the process matters as much as the outcome.

"The Making of a Genius" By Jude Obodo

This young and high-spirited die-hard optmist was a school mate back in the days. He mailed the book to me and I could not resist reading till the end. I have had the course to read his book more than once. The reason is simple...he addresses those who find hopelessness in the landscape of Nigeria...it addresses all of us...motivational and pushy...but that is Gusto for you. He pushes a dream as far as life is left in him...

...perspiration, thinking...thinking is the only thing that distinguishes man from the other animals...yet it is the instrument that is most underused in human history...this book is an invitation to think, abandon the comfort zone and a welcome to the inner world of the genius...I recommend it...because I know the story...I witnessed part of it with the author and it is a dream I share.

"The End of Poverty" by Jeffrey Sach

Oh...one of the books you will never drop for a minute if you are obsessed about development (economic) of the developing countries.

Thanks guys

[EezeeBee]

Great section of NVS to find!

I'm FINALLY getting around to reading 'Dreams From My Father' by Barack Obama (P-EOTUS ).

Like some others here, I'm also reading multiple books and the other I'm reading is Robert Schuller's 'Tough Times Never Last But Tough People Do'.

I'll tell you what I think/learned when I'm done.

[WaleAkin]

Originally Posted by EezeeBee

Like some others here, I'm also reading multiple books and the other I'm reading is Robert Schuller's 'Tough Times Never Last But Tough People Do'.

Good book EZB! Good book!

I just finished Grishams new novel, APPEAL. What a perfect way to describe the rich and mighty in present America!

I am engrossed in a new found love-Simon Kernick, a British Author, he paints a raw picture of not yet seen Britain's capital, London! His foot is pressed hard on the pedals! Presently reading DEADLINE and SEVERED together!

[GamineGirlie]

Im reading, Magic Kingdom for sale, Sold! By Terry Brooks, i love fantasy and Terry is a great author

[dreamchic]

Finally reading Sefi Atta's Everything Good Will Come...3 yrs late!
Also reading Brick Lane by Monica Ali

[Pooky]

Y'all,

To my fellow kindreds(book worms) I know what we all read is a personal choice and what appeals to us, and we all simply don't like the same kinds of reads. However, I talk about a lot of books that I like and move me. However, I feel compelled to "beg" every kindred to read Dreams of Africa in Alabama by Slyvaine Diouf. This is a book I beg all Naijas to read. It is a personal history of a group of Naijas that tell their own story of enslavement and how it all came to be. It is a very worthwhile read. We often spend alot of time reading other people's history, but don't take the time to read our history. This book covers American, African American, and African history. It is just one story of many. Lets honor the ancestors by knowing who they were, and by talking about them, they are not forgotten. Y'all please consider adding this wonderful book to your reading list. I am an advocate for Kudjoe(Kossola) nem's story.

The book is on this forum.

Ezeebee,

I have Dreams of My Father on my list to read within the next three months. I have to finish the ones I have started first.

Note:

Like I said earlier, I often read three or four books at the same time. I have finished Steppin' on the Blues and African American in Jim Crow. One was a fun book, the other was emotionally taxing. I have started reading a fun book, fiction, called In the Night of the Heat by Blair nderwood, Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes. It is a contiuation of their early book Casanegra. It is a "who done it." As I have said reading fiction for me is easy and quick, if the writer is a good story teller and there is substance and it is well written. After reading this book, I will pick up another history book. Reading African American history can be emotinally taxing. So I have to alternate to give myself a rest.

Y'all I am compelled to read history, after I realized I was purposely mis-educated, I have been mad as hell and reading like a speed demon.

[E_Pluribus_Unum]

i am reading

Brimstone
by Lincon Child and Douglas Preston

my first book by this dynamic duo was Thunderhead, then Relic and then its prequel Reliquary.

as usual Agent PenderGast assisted by the ever ready D'Agosta is up to his sophisticated self getting out of major scrapes in an entirely convincing manner, and solving the crimes which have puzzulled the FBI's finest minds, ad ends wih a shattering climax.

Ikira, All hail a good read

[Belle]

I am reading a three novel book titled "Of Love and Life" which is a Readers Digest compilation of three authors, Erica James, Hester Browne and Kristin Hannah. I have just started the first story and it is about a Garden club.