Tuesday, November 16, 2010

What I'm reading this week

I'm an avid reader.  On average, I probably read at least one full novel per week, along with an assortment of nonfiction, biography and technical writings scattered throughout the year. I've usually got my nose (metaphorically) in at least one, if not three or four, separate books at any one time.  Lucky for me, technology has made it easy to carry around an entire library in the palm of my hand.

This last weekend, I finished the latest book in my To Be Read (TBR) pile, The Gathering Storm by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan.  I needed something to go along with the Clan of the Cave Bear, which I'm also in the middle of re-reading.  And then I saw this:

The Atheist's Guide to Christmas

And joy of joys -- it's only $1.01 on Amazon for the digital edition!  What an amazing deal!

So I've been reading it on and off for the last few days, and it's an insightful and entertaining collection of essays from 42 atheists around the world (well, mostly Great Britain) about what Christmas means to them.  From stories of childhood wishes to farsical comedic takes on the holiday, it's a blast to read, and an very uplifiting set of tales.  And one of the most entertaining things about it is the British colloquialisms and jingo that is peppered throughout the essays, often quite unintentionally funny to a Muricun like me.

If you've got a chance and some interest, I highly recommend this book (especially the Kindle version, which is only a buck).  If you don't have a Kindle, there are a lot of other ways to read it -- on your computer, on your iDevice, or get the hard copy (go ahead, kill a few trees while you're at it!).

5 comments:

Morrison said...

I thought the Atheist War on Christmas was a myth? LOL!

On a lighter note, dad got us all Kindles and provided for 100 books of our choice as an early Christmas present.

He thinks it will save him some money in the long run!

He has loaded the top fifty atheist books on his, and is finally going to start his own blog.

Its a little hard to get the old guy to change his way. LOL!

Chuck Lunney said...

I thought you were going to start reading for comprehension?

Where did anything in this post suggest some sort of "war"? The book is a group of essays by atheists about how they interpret the Christmas season, and enjoy and participate in the celebration of family, giving and charity.

Congrats on getting the Kindles. I love my e-reader, and I do think it'll save you (and your dad) some money.

If you've got $100 in Kindle money, why not spend a buck on the book? Even if you don't agree with the views of the essay authors, I guarantee you'll enjoy the stories as they are written.

Let me know the where to find your dad's blog. I'd be interested in reading it.

Morrison said...

Hey, I got the Atheists Guide but it was about Ten Bucks, not a Dollar.

Atheist Inflation?

The books looks amusing so far, but somewhat superficial.

As for Dad's blog, when he gets in running, he will let the local atheist groups know! LOL!

(He would go to their meetings but he got thrown out of the last one. It was hilarious! And they thought they were the only ones recording thngs. LOL!)

Chuck Lunney said...

Sorry the book went up in price. Like I said, my copy was $1.01.

I never said it was a deep, philosophical bore. I said it was entertaining and witty (and sometimes unintentionally funny).

Let me know when the Master has his blog up and running.

www.KCFreeThinkers.org said...

Chuck,

I've been considering an e-Book reader but decided against it for financial reasons. $150-200 for reader and $10-15 per e-book - right off the bat the purchase of the eReader will set me back by 10-20 books in cost.

I may read 10-15 books a year as most of my reading is on science, evolution, cosmology, politics, culture, religion from http://www.LiveScience.com,
http://www.ScienceDaily.com,
http://www.RichardDawkins.net
http://www.News.Google.com

Having done some more research, I settled on getting books for free from Johnson County Library and delivered at the closest branch to me. If a new book comes out I put it on my "to read" list and in 3-6 months I can get it.

I am also a member of Kansas City KS, Kansas City MO and Mid Continental Public Libraries, so if the book doesn't show up at JoCo library I can get it there when I am driving by one day as I drive quite a bit around town.

This requires some planning but works for me as the number of books I read doesn't justify e-Reader.