There is one here at GW. I haven't been there recently. I don't have much time to read or talk about reading right now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Reader's forum

I'm going to watch this thread and look around for a readers forumn also. I ordered the new Kindle 2 from Amazon and it's been shipped. Should be here in the next day or two. Time to figure out some books for it. The 240,000 title that Amazon has for Kindle is a bit overwhelming.

Nancy

Oops. I didn't even read through your whole post! Se, no time to read. Thinking back on that forum it seemed to lean heavily toward Harry Potter discussions at the time. I guess it wasn't a good fit for me either!

These days I'm either reading non-fiction (Michael Pollan, Bill Bryson, Malcolm Gladwell, etc.) or I'm reading classics.

I'd like a 3D reading group again but haven't found one to join.

Gosh, I'd love to find one, too. I used to particpate on GW-RP, but I don't know. Some of the books that were recommended when I tried them were not to my liking.

I belong to a book club (and am president of my library's board) so I am always looking for good books. There are a number of good web sites for finding book recommendations but so far I haven't found a forum.

From my book club I have learned that people's taste in reading is extremely diverse. I loved Kite Runner, others hated it. I hated DaVinci Code and others couldn't put it down. I didn't like Edgar Sawtelle but loved a book called The Distant Land of My Father. Right now we are reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and it is at times very good and at other times kind of meh. Helps if you can read Spanish!

Eileen, I love Pollan's books.

I generally look for books recommended on certatn sites and then read the reviews on Amazon. Here's a site I was just looking at yesterday, but again not a forum. I hope you find one and I will join you there!

Here is a link that might be useful: good books

Everyone I know who has read Shantaram raved about it. Read reviews on Amazon and be aware Johnny Depp is working it into a movie. Would be great for those who loved slumdog millionaire...starts our taking place in Bombay's slums. Gad my sentences are starting to sound like GWer asolo.

I've never participated in a reading forum, but I'd love to.

How can we start our own?

I just finished Memoirs of a Geisha and loved it. Others I have read recently and enjoyed are The Kite Runner, Life of Pi, Light on Snow. I might start Bel Canto today.

I didn't read The DaVinci Code when everyone was raving about it because my husband read it and thought it was no good.

Sherry

I admit I mainly read fluff/junk (just finished the Shopaholic series), but also like to read more deep stuff. Why don't we start a continuous What's For Reading thread in the same vein as the What's for Dinner threads? I'm always looking for recommendations of what to read too.

barnmom - I chuckled sympathetically when I read your first response. There have been long spells in my life when I have been both reading/sleep deprived and I can relate.

When we had kids attending the same school I befriended a group of women I still keep in touch with regularly. We're all avid readers and often exchange books. What is interesting is that although we have similar lifestyles and values there are books we read that some of us think are "the best!" and others can't get through because they find them so bad.

I prefer getting recommendations rather than reading reviews because reviews tend to give too much away. Even some jacket covers sometimes reveal too much of the plot. It's like watching a comedy when you've seen all the funniest parts out of context in a movie trailer.

I like to mix non-fiction (love Bill Bryson, too), biographies, historical fiction and classic novels that I missed reading in school. Some of the new, popular fiction appeals to me. I loved "Edgar Sawtelle" - wasn't a big fan of "Angels & Demons."

I own and enjoy the original Kindle, but wish I'd held out for Kindle 2. I still love real paper books, but I've been using the library as a resource for those and have only purchased a few of them over the past several years. I love, love cookbooks, but lately have been test-driving those from the library before purchasing.

Thanks for the recommendations above....I'll keep checking in.

I read constantly and a wide mix of things - the reading forum isn't a good fit for me either, not sure why, but I do check in occasionally all the same - I'd be up for starting our own!

Nancy I've had my Kindle for awhile now and I read it every day. Besides the daily Wall Street Journal subscription, I just finished "Snowball" about Warren Buffet (absolutely fascinating - to me), and now I'm reading Pride and Prejudice before going to sleep - it was under $2. You can download free books to your computer them upload them to your Kindle also.

Amck - please start a thread!

Hmmm...I'm torn about what would constitute a good book forum. Just MHO, but I think there can be an intimidating factor that is off-putting on some book forums. As I mentioned in my post above, even my best friends and I don't always agree on what constitutes a good book. But because of our history of friendship, we don't feel hurt or harshly judged when someone says, "that book didn't do it for me." It's especially hard to convey a difference of opinion when it's delivered in a post. Sometimes I re-read things I've posted which I've meant to sound funny or wry, and am worried that my tone might have been misinterpreted.

So how about this - For now, how about a thread where we can list books that we've enjoyed recently, and some of our all-time favorites? Without giving away too much, we can give some general info and maybe alert people if they contain coarse language/graphic violence/sex, etc.

I mention this because my MIL often passes on "CSI"-type mystery novels that she enjoys to me. I'm not especially prudish, but I do a lot of my reading at night instead of watching TV and I've found that reading books with disturbing themes like child abuse/decapitations/rapes, etc. are too disrupting to my sleep to read at bedtime.

What prompted my OP is that I just finished a heartwarming read and was looking for something good to start on. Seeing a list of what you've all been reading is a good place to start looking. I'd already been thinking about "Snowball" that gina w mentioned above. I may download a chapter on the Kindle to check it out.

Do any of you have other suggestions on how to approach starting a thread?

I'm currently reading "Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant," essays from chefs and others on the topics of dining alone and cooking for oneself. So far I am enjoying it. As a single person who also cooks, it speaks to me!

After Shantaram, two of my favorite books this year were:
The Russian Concubine and The Shoe Queen. I enjoy reading books that are rich in detail about different cultures and time periods. Another favorite was Waiting, rich in detail about life in China during the Communist period.
I know the Shoe Queen sounds like a shopping book, it's not. Linda

I have a group of friends who send each other movie reviews via email. We write fairly short, one paragraph reviews saying why we liked or didn't like the movie without going deeply into plot. Since I love movies I will often watch something that someone else reviewed as bad, simply because ya just never know.

I like some things that others don't and vice versa. It's great because I get ideas of movies to watch that I might never have heard of otherwise. No one's feelings are hurt if someone doesn't like something they did like, it's all just opinion on a friendly basis.

So... can we do something similar with books? I never know what books to read, I'm not familiar with that many authors. Just a short review stating the kind of book it is, what you thought of it and why, would be so helpful.

And, then, if a couple of people who read the same book wanted to get into a side discussion of the details, they could start a separate thread so that those who hadn't yet read the book could avoid seeing too much detail.

lowspark, I like your suggestions. It's just what I was hoping to find because it's similar to what we do with recipes on the Cooking Forum discussion side.

It would provide a starting point for people looking for a new book that would come from someone who actually read it, not someone with a vested interest in promoting it.

I particularly like the idea of branching off with a separate post if someone wants to initiate a discussion about the book.

Let's give it a try. I'll post with a book I've read recently and really enjoyed.