What are you reading right NOW?!?!

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

My kid had to learn about homosexuality from The Simpsons.

Luckily, the Homer's Phobia episode aired shortly after a friend of ours had come out of the closet, so at least it gave us something to work with in explaining it to her. Which is probably the reason for those kind of books - to give parents/adults some kind of framework so that they can discuss the subject with youngsters.

[soupcan]

Of course, but the book says its geared to Kindergarten through 3rd grade.

Mine fall into that category. I think it's too young an age for this subject. I could be wrong I just don't know and it's my not knowing that is scary. As a parent you think that any mistake or error in judgement you make with your kids could very well scar them.

I suppose just introducing the idea that men can like each other and be with each other as can women, is not a bad thing and since I haven't read the book I shouldn't make assumptions about its content.

To sum up: Parenting is hard.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

To sum up - agreed!

But we were in a position where a close family friend had just come out, and we were going to meet his significant other in the not too distant future. My daughter was in that age range at the time. A book like that would have served to open the discussion, which was a discusstion that we couldn't avoid having.

So instead it was more like, "Remember when Homer was acting so dumb about that guy?"

I think the book would probably have been preferable.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

The book doesn't make sense as a general reading item for kids, but I think a book like that could be helpful if a child has gay parents, or a gay aunt or uncle, or gay neighbors, etc. and is struggling to understand what's going on.

But I don't see the point of introducing the concept to young children if there's no outside reason to do so.

[soupcan]

You'd be surprised how much sexuality comes into your home through the media. It's freakin' everywhere.

And again I'm not sure its a bad thing. It could be the greatest thing in the world for kids to have exposure to these issues at a young age.

It could truly lead to a more tolerant society if people are growing up with these idealogies all around them since they were young.

I'm not so concerned that exposure to alternative lifestyles would act as a 'recruiting device' as I am of the belief that being hetrerosexual or homosexual is not something you can choose, I'm more concerned about experimentation and a general confusion as to what a child believes he i/she is or 'should' be.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I hear what you're seeing soup. I'm just not as worried that learning about homosexuality is going to make kids any more subject to experimentation than they would be anyway.

[Theoldmole]

[url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/06/movies/06sex.html?]Kids, sex, movies[/url]

[Frayed Knot]

What are you reading right NOW?!?!

Why this thread of course!



Although when I'm not reading the CPF, I'm working on:



Lance Armstrong's War -- Daniel Coyle

Trying to be topical here with 'Le Tour' going on.
I've never read either of the books that Lance wrote (or, more accurately, had ghost-written). I have a kind of knee-jerk aversion to auto-biographies to start with, and sports auto's in particular. I guess I'm too leery of them being so one-sided and uninteresting that I rarely bother.
I read almost none of the plethora of '86 Mets books for instance.

But this one is a journalistic look at Lance's attempt for TdF #6 ('04) and a brief view of bicycle racing in general and at one of the most amazing athletic stories (and life stories) of our time in particular.
Pretty good so far. I haven't reached the part about the race yet. The front part of the book deals with the preparation and back stories that go into training for a race and on the types who go into bike racing in the first place (these racers, they're a strange lot).
Combine a huge star who can be a tough boss to the "team" that surrounds him, then throw in a controversial medical "advisor", a rock-star girlfriend, some kooky yet determined opponents, a relentless and skeptical press -- and put it all together during an attempt to set an all-time record in a ridiculously demanding sport and you've got yourself an interesting story.

[metirish]

Just started this....

[Willets Point]

Reading this freaky book for a book club:

If Margaret Atwood was that paranoid about right-wing Christians in 1986 then she must be stir-crazy now. I think that U2's song "Acrobat" was inspired by this book.

[metsmarathon]

zero game is very good. they twist things up right in the beginning even!

i think it was my second meltzer book, and it won't be my last.

edit:

i'm now reading:


which while well written is coming along rather slowly. ploddingly i might even suggest. its not so much that the book itself isnt interesting and doesnt draw me in, its just that i've no real current vacation time during which to read, and i'm not riding the bike as much in the gym, so i've little reading time right now.

but it is an interesting story of the fledgling new amsterdam, of its chaotic and fitful start, and of its possible influence on the shape of america to come, what with such nicities as religious tolerance and meltingpotness, etc.

[Guest cooby]

Now that looks interesting. Is that book new?

[metsmarathon]

hardcover came out a year ago, paperback came out in april.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1400078679/qid=1120827662/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-9890835-6055307?v=glance&s=books

[Guest cooby]

Very timely, I was about to order some books from them in the next few days. Thanks, marathon!

[patchyfogg]

Got this from the publisher:

BROOKLYN, NY � Sports columnist Maury Allen will sign copies of his new book, Brooklyn Remembered: The 1955 Days of the Dodgers, on Friday, July 22 at KeySpan Park located at 1904 Surf Ave. as part of a weekend celebration honoring the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers. Allen will sign for fans from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. The Brooklyn Cyclones host the Jamestown Jammers at 7:00pm. The Brooklyn Baseball Gallery at KeySpan Park will also feature a display with artifacts from the legendary 1955 team.

[Willets Point]

Edgy DC wrote: Clancy sounds like he's long forgotten the distinction between the facts and whatever makes the better story.

Rereading this I discovered that was an apt description of my late grandfather as well, but it was one of his most endearing traits. I mean we heard the same stories over and over again, so it was nice they got better each time.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

After finishing Harry Potter 6, I'm back to this -

Honestly, it's a piece of trash. It's the first in the series (so far numbered at three) of mysteries set in Princeton, and it's by far the worst written. But I'm a completionist, so I'll tough it out. At least the recipe in the back looks like it's worth trying.

After that, I have this, which I picked up on the sale rack at Barnes & Noble the night I bought the Harry Potter book -




OE - the Waldron mystery was truly stupid. By far the worst in the series. Even the mention of local places didn't make this readible (so it would be torture for the rest of you). The Lupica novel, as expected, is an entertaining read (I'm only about 10% into it, but I like his style)

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

The other day I finished The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson. It's about the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and a serial killer who was active in the city at the time. Interesting and breezy, but not as good as its buzz indicated.

Now I'm finally reading Moneyball. I'm about to start a chapter titled "Giambi's Hole." I'm not sure I want to read a chapter about that!

[Guest cooby]

A strange pairing, to be sure...

[seawolf17]

I like when people wake up threads like this to remind me to post.



I wanted a paperback for bed (hardcover books are too heavy when your arms get tired), and this grabbed my eye. I enjoy Stephen King, but this is decidedly blah. Maybe it's Peter Straub's (his co-author) fault; I don't know. But I'm about 100 pages in, and it has yet to grab me at all. The main character, a twelve-year-old boy named Jack Sawyer, is completely unreal... he acts and is treated too much like an adult. It seems like a similar story to The Dark Tower, which I couldn't get into either. I don't know if I'm going to get much further in this one.

[Guest cooby]

Seawolf, try this one... I don't generally like Stephen King, and this one has some longwinded skip overable parts as usual, but I liked it...

[metirish]

Sine I started reading Michael Connelly a few months ago I'm ripping through all his stuff...

[metirish]

this one is next...

[Elster88]

The theme song to Magnum, P.I.

OE: Oops, I thought this was the what are you listening to thread.

[Sandgnat]

Just read two good books on my seven million hour flight back from Vietnam that I would recommend:

- The Bad Guys Won! A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo-chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, The Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team Ever to Put on a New York Uniform by Jeff Pearlman

I'm sure most of you probably read this already and there was probably a thread about it at some point.

- Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen - Can't get enough of writers like Hiaasen, Tom Robbins, Christopher Moore, Christopher Buckley, Dave Barry, etc. If you like satire, you will enjoy this one.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I bought books the other day by Jonahan Lethem and Jonathan Franzen. I'm not sure which one I'm reading.

Also, I grabbed this new at random. He effectively uses a voice I like to call the third person sympathetic.

[Theoldmole]

Have you considered Jonathan Swift, Jonathan Kellerman, or Jonathan Safran Foer?

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I picked this up to read on vacation, and I've been enjoying it -



It's a chick book, but a very well written one.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Jonathan Swift.

Read most of his catalog. Excellent, when I can penetrate it. I am a former Irish Studies student after all.

Jonathan Kellerman.

No, I haven't.

Jonathan Safran Foer.

Actually recommended to me by the clerk who saw my Jonny-centered purchase.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Getting a jump on my coursework. Especially since the IT course scares the heck out of me!