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What I’ve Been Reading Lately

posted by Russ, September 30 in reading with tags ,

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I’ve been trying to read more lately, and I think I’ve been doing a fairly good job. And since I’ve been a bit lax about posting actual articles here, in their absence I’ll share what I’ve been reading.

For a while there I was reading some more serious books, some non-fiction and some travel/adventure books, but I decided I needed a break, and have read a few novels since then.

The non-fiction books of note that I read were Eating Animals, What Should I Do With My Life, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Dark Star Safari, and Into Thin Air.

Eating Animals by Jonathon Safran Foer is a fairly quick read, but there are parts that may be hard to swallow (no pun intended) depending on your stance on eating meat. That said, I would recommend it either way. If nothing else it is a good reminder about where your food comes from, and it forces you to spend a few minutes thinking about what you eat and why.

Po Bronson’s What Should I Do With My Life is pretty self explanatory based on the title. I would definitely recommend this, as there are some inspirational stories shared within.

I could go either way on Rich Dad Poor Dad. I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, though it seems to be a pretty popular book. If you’ve got the time, it’s worth a read, and may add a new outlook to your views on work and money.

If you’re into travel writing, any book by Paul Theroux would be a good place to start. Dark Star Safari was my most recent read, and it was a great one. He chronicles his “safari” across Africa, starting in Cairo and ending in South Africa. With his trademark humor and interesting views, it is a pretty quick read, even at close to 500 pages.

For a good adventure book, Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air is a must read. It is a “personal account of the Mt Everest Disaster” of 1996, chronicling his group’s expedition in which 5 lives were lost, and which later became just a part of the most lethal Everest climbing season to date. For those not familiar with high altitude climbing, it is an extremely eye opening look at the realities of life above 20,000 feet.

In addition to these non-fiction books, here are the notable novels that I’ve read:

After reading Dark Star Safari, I decided to give Theroux’s fiction books a shot, and so I checked The Elephanta Suite out of the library. This novel which follows three different Westerners as they venture beyond India’s typical tourist path was slow to grab me, but by the end I was wishing for more. If you have any interest in India, it’s definitely a quick, easy read.

My most recent surprise was Abandon, by Pico Iyer. Another novel that was slow to grab me, but turned into one I didn’t want to put down. A mix of romance, mystery, and spirituality, it is about a student trying to finish his thesis about the Sufi poet Rumi, and follows his quest to find a secret Islamic manuscript.


Originally posted on Thursday, September 30th, 2010 at 5:59 AM .

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