What were you reading last weekend while I was getting stung?

NottaSackville

NottaSackville

Valinor
Yep - just a wee bit less exciting than a long car trip - I got stung right on the ankle last weekend while mowing the lawn and now it's swollen up and I can't really walk on it. I'd share pictures again, but ugh, gross - who wants to see my feet? [crazy]

I finished off book 6 of the Dresden Files - Blood Rites. An excellent book! I've got 7-9 waiting to go. But as I mentioned last week, I'm going to switch to something a bit different for a book or two.

I recently met someone who was very committed and forthcoming about something called the Paleo Diet, and insisted many things about it that just seemed untrue. It struck me as probably one of those things that starts with a good idea (hey, eating more fruits, vegetables and meat is good for us!), and then extrapolates it to the meaningless extreme. So I decided to read up about it. The book I'm reading is called The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain. As expected, the book is based on a great idea (lean meat is good for you, it's better to get carbohydrates from broccoli, carrots, apples than from potatoes and sugary cereal) that is then expanded upon using straw men, ignored truths, poor statistics and slight of hand. Sigh. Ahh well, sprinkled in there are some interesting facts, and hopefully some tasty, healthy recipies - which I will indulge myself in while mixing in a tasty level of ice cream & Twizzlers!

How 'bout you - what are you reading? Have you been stung by anything lately - a bee, or bad science?

Notta
 
is "Atkins, with a good backstory". [;)]

Currently in between changing diapers, I am reading "Red Seas Under Red Skies", by Scott Lynch, the sequel to "The Lies of Locke Lamora" which I posted about in this thread in probably January. So far it's almost as fun as the first one. I'm hoping a third is on the way.
 
Being a Texan, my first thought was fire ants. You'd have a lot more than one sting, if that were true.

I assume if you'd had an encounter with Shelob (the first spider to sting rather than bite [;)] ) you'd have said so. Ditto if you'd fallen over any hobbit-weaponry. In any event, I'm sorry to hear this and hope you're recovering quickly.

I've heard of the Paleo diet, and agree, like most diet plans it starts out with a good concept and then goes overboard. If nothing else (and there's certainly many somethings else) everyone's body is different, and what food works for one person may not work for another. I have a friend who's allergic to wheat, for example.

Not that I think sugary cereal, soft drinks, assorted junk food, etc. is good for ANYONE. [mad]

As for my reading, I'm once again writing, which is good overall but does cut down on the reading time, sigh. All I've read this week is Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, by Alan Alda. Yes, the actor from M*A*S*H and PBS's Scientific American and a plethora of other places.

The Gaffer brought the book home from the Friends of the Library bookstore and I was surprised to see that it's an autographed copy, but not inscribed to anyone in particular.

Anyway, I've always admired Alda for being a pleasant, positive, caring person, and this book does nothing to dispel my impression. He muses about his life, and life in general, and includes transcripts of many graduation ceremony addresses and a few eulogies he's given. The book is so positive and pleasant it's almost (and I feel guilty saying this) boring. Why, I wonder, does a snarky and much darker so-and-so like Anthony Bourdain come across as more entertaining?

In any event, Alda's book is the one to read at bedtime, guaranteed not to give you nightmares, but to send you off to sleep secure in the knowledge that there are still decent people out there.
 
Do you know where a really well filled out list of the stuff she's written is? I'm making a book list of things to get and the only complete list of her stuff I can find is the Miss Marple series and the Hercule Poirot series. I can't seem to find a list of her other books and I'm finding it rather depressing.
...
Oh, and I'm rereading the LOTR trilogy since I've finished rereading The Hobbit and The Silmarillion.
 
The A.A. Milne mystery, "The Red House," was pretty silly and far-fetched. I wasn't impressed. If he'd gone on to write more mysteries, maybe they would have improved (even Ngaio Marsh's first few were pretty bad), but I can't say I regret that this was the only one.

I've started "A Shilling for Candles" by Josephine Tey. In the Introduction to the book, mystery author Robert Barnard states that Tey didn't always write to formula, and sometimes solves her conundrums with clues that she doesn't bother to give the reader. And he said it like it was a good thing.

We'll have to see if she does that in this book and how she handles it, but I have to say that, in general, not being up front with the reader is lazy and cheating.

Also, her sleuth, Scotland Yard's Inspector Grant, is still an idiot. [tongue]

I totally agree, however, with her disgust with the sensational press and with those stupid middle-aged women who swoon over celebrities. (It's silly in teenage girls, too, but at least they have the excuse of youth and inexperience.)
 
I watched a couple episodes of one of his shows a few years back, and he put me off by being so snooty about some of the things he was eating. There's being select about the foods you appreciate, and there's being a freaking snob. And he totally crossed the line for me.
 
Congrats on the new addition, and glad the book is good.

There are a lot of similarities between Atkins & Paleo, though the author of the Paleo Diet goes to lengths to discredit low-carb diets in general (which is not a hard task, in my opinion).

Notta
 
But it got me on the flippin' ankle, which always seems to cause me problems. Other places are no problem.

And yeah, had I been stung by Shelob, I'd likely have mentioned it! [;)] Or rather, I'd not be here to mention it, most likely.

One of these days I want someone to publish a diet book that just says "If you're calorie outflow is about the same as your in-flow, and you eat a lot of protein, fruits & veggies, you're pretty much going to be OK. Fill in the remaining calories as you wish." It'd be a short book, but probably a diet (in the sense of "a way of eating", not a "quick way to lose weight" sense) most could actually stick to!

My guess is the Alda book is a little boring because it doesn't make you think that much. Saying nice, thoughtful things only causes a "yeah, that's right" reaction, which doesn't force us to engage much. Maybe?

Notta
 
Has any one heard of those books? I'm really enjoying them anyway.

[evil][sly][sly]

And that's about it. Well, besides TORN but, well, you know...[laugh]

BTW, I hope your foot gets better. I hate bugs...especially mean ones.[cool]
 
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Reading through Eragon again. I'm planning on getting through the series before the last book comes out in November. We'll see about that though.[:)]
 
Good to know - guess I can skip the Milne mystery, even though curiosity makes me want to try it out.

Do you read mystery novels for the intrigue, or the competition to see if you can figure out the answer before the book gives it to you? If the latter, I would think it would be very frustrating to not get all the clues. For the former, maybe not so much? Let us know how it goes!

Notta
 
I would definitely rather go to dinner with Alda than Bourdain, and yet I find Bourdain (for the most part -- see caveat below) more entertaining. It's not the snarkiness per se, I don't think, as the articulate and amusing way he snarks. Normally I'd strongly dislike that sort of smug personality -- and yet everytime I'm about ready to give up on him (in books and on TV both) Bourdain drops the smug and exhibits humility and even sentimentality.

I do like travel and food shows, period, and find Andrew Zimmern's and Jamie Oliver's culinary journeys to be as enjoyable as Bourdain's, without the snark.

Bourdain recently did a Christmas special that was so egregiously nasty -- he obviously was only doing the show because his producers wanted him to -- that I turned it off in the middle. Last night I recorded the program he did last night on El Bulli, the Spanish restaurant that does experimental food, and expect to enjoy it, since that should be a topic he chose for himself.
 
(And not a bee [shocked] )

Probably the Alda book just makes me nod and smile in agreement, while Bourdain (and others of his ilk) rub me just enough to wrong way to make me shift around uncomfortable, while entertaining me just enough to make me keep on reading (or viewing, as the case may be.)
 
Don't let me put you off of it. [cool]

He wrote it a few years before he wrote the Pooh books, and it was wildly popular, so obviously it has some appeal (and wasn't just riding Pooh's coattails).

I just thought it was silly, that's all.

I certainly don't read mysteries to try to solve it before the book detective does. Ha! I think I've figured out who "dun" it maybe once before finishing a book. And only then because it was so obvious that a blind bat could have seen it. I probably just started reading mysteries when I decided to pick up one of the classics (Christie or somebody) and got hooked.
 
Wow! Talk about a monster of a book, and yet I finished it in a mere 2 1/2 weeks! (Though I'd bet there are some who beat me there) I loved it, though I am now finding myself in a post Ice and Fire depression... [unsure]

[cool] I have to say, I was wondering when a certain character was going to reappear - and sure enough he made a doozy of an appearance at the end of the book! [shocked] Can't wait for the next one - I just hope George doesn't take five and a half years to write it! [crazy]
 
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