# Conversation and Fun > Just Conversation >  Summer Reading

## chm2023

Highly recommend The Genius Factory--the true story of a sperm bank consisting of deposits from Nobel Prize winners.  Very interesting and quite comical.  Also just started Judgment Ridge--another true story of the Dartmouth professors killed by teenagers in their home a couple years ago.  So far quite engrossing, if creepy.

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## Night Train

Im reading the new Harry Potter book. FYI, My brother in Law did the autopsies on those professors. He was the Medical Examiner in New Hampshire at the time. Very Sad.

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## Pete Hanlin

I'm also in the process of reading the new HP book... seems quite dark thus far.  I wonder if JK Rowling is depressed- or has simply forgotten that these books were intended for _children_! 
 :Confused:  
Dan Brown (or is it Dale, I get the two mixed up) was supposed to author another book this year- but I hear its been delayed.  I hope he can offer something as entertaining as "Angels & Demons" (his best book so far).

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## Cindy Hamlin

If you enjoyed _The Secret Life of Bees_ you will like this book, too.  

_Me and Emma_ by Elizabeth Flock

Fabulously written and the ending will leave you speechless.  After I finished it I walked around stunned and muttering to myself.

FABULOUS, FABULOUS, FABULOUS! 

Right now I am reading _The Mermaid Chair_ by Sue Monk Kidd.

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## Steve Machol

Still finishing up _Collapse_ by Jared Diamond and _What's the Matter with Kansas_ by Thomas Frank.  Next up - Harry Potter.

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## mlm

Just finished _The Red Tent_ by Anita Diamant; if you're into stories with some historical basis (the Genesis story of Dinah, in this case), you'll enjoy this book.  Next up for me is _Eleven Minutes_ by Paulo Coelho.

If you want a fun non-fiction read, _Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation_ by Lynne Truss is absolutely hilarious._
_

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## Steve Machol

I have the _Eats, Shoots & Leaves_ book. Maybe after Harry Potter.

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## Jubilee

Since I am still currently on leave, I read the Harry Potter book in the first day it was out. Though now I am rereading for clues. 

The book is definitely much darker, and many people are very unhappy with the ending. I have my theories on it, but I won't share at the moment so I don't spoil it for others. 

I certainly can't wait till JKR gets that last one out. Maybe we oughta get her a special set of the self correcting quills to get busy :)

Cassandra

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## Pete Hanlin

I just passed the half-way point of the book, so of course, the ultimate role of Snape (erm, Professor Snape) is still a mystery.  I believe I posted a couple years ago- after reading the first couple books- that Snape would probably end up being a very good guy by the end of the saga...  We'll just have to see.

Its interesting how JK is brining out the romantic issues that face teenagers so well.  I mean, even though I am now old and in my declining years, I can think back 20 years or so and still remember going through some of the same emotions and feelings she captures so well- solid writing.

It almost feels, however, as if she is now writing with the inevitable movie version in mind.  Its almost like she has thought ahead to things like "how could this be done with special effects."  Something just seems different from the first couple books.

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## coda

Like Steve I'm still working my way through _Collapse_ with occasional side trips.  The most enjoyable have been _A Walk in the Woods_ by Bill Bryson and _Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World_ by Mark Kurlansky (who also wrote _Salt_, another excellent book).  I'd recommend all of them but beware, _Collapse_ is not for the faint of heart of weak of determination.

Potter is next.

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## Pete Hanlin

I have read several of Bryson's books- including _Walk in the Woods_.  He is an excellent author.  His _Short History of Nearly Everything_ is also excellent.


About 15 minutes ago, I finished the latest Harry Potter book as well.  I'll not make comment, since so many have yet to read the book, but I have some definite opinions about where this will go.  

Also, the mark of a good book- in my opinion- is to evoke emotion in the reader, and this one delivers.  I'll settle down for the long and surely tedious wait until Ms. Rowling pens her final installment.  I have to think that writing the last book will have to be a mixture of release and regret for the author.  After all, she is unlikely to ever write another series that gains the notoriety and fame as this tale of a young wizard.  Then again, seeing these same characters through 7 years must be somewhat tedious as well.  One can only hope it takes less than two years to finish!

For now, I'm going to retreat back into business reading...  I've exhausted the works of most of the authors I know I like, and "getting to know" a new author's style and characters is just too exhausting a thought for now.

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## Jubilee

So how long are we giving them till we can start discussing it :)

I was so annoyed when I finished reading it, cause I wanted to discuss it, and had no one to talk about it to.. :cry:  

I have my theories, and some backing for it.. 

like R.A.B. is....



well I guess I will wait longer to discuss it.


Cassandra

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## jediron1

chm2023
Highly recommend The Genius Factory--the true story of a sperm bank consisting of deposits from Nobel Prize winners. Very interesting and quite comical. Also just started Judgment Ridge--another true story of the Dartmouth professors killed by teenagers in their home a couple years ago. So far quite engrossing, if creepy.[/QUOTE]


Now there's a highly prized book! Lets go into the back room and give our sperm, anyone got a cup? Lets see Sperm Bank to the Killing of two Dartmouth
professors, ya it's not engrossing it's gross and it is creepy. And what genius wrote a book about a Sperm Factory ( my words )? :hammer:

From Sperm to two teenage killers where's the exorcist?

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## Pete Hanlin

So how long are we giving them till we can start discussing it :)?

Yeah, anyway- come on you literary laggards!  Read the freakin' book so we can discuss!!!  See poll to come.

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## Steve Machol

You could just start a new Harry Potter thread and add this to the title:

*** Beware: Spoilers Included ***

That way people who have not read the book yet can be forewarned to stay away.

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## jediron1

Steve Machol
You could just start a new Harry Potter thread and add this to the title:

*** Beware: Spoilers Included ***

That way people who have not read the book yet can be forewarned to stay away.[/QUOTE]


Can we also start one for the Sperm Factory? I would be interested in how many
are donors? Please pass the cup!:bbg:

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## karen

See, now I like the trashy romance stuff, especially if it is set in the Elizibethan era so I just finished "The Kings Fool" 2nd in a trilogy- the first was "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Phillipa Gregory.  I love that English history stuff and these are set in that time with all the real players involved.  You all like that stuff you have to think to read.      :Nerd:

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## chm2023

> Steve Machol
> You could just start a new Harry Potter thread and add this to the title:
> 
> *** Beware: Spoilers Included ***
> 
> That way people who have not read the book yet can be forewarned to stay away.


 
Can we also start one for the Sperm Factory? I would be interested in how many
are donors? Please pass the cup!:bbg: [/QUOTE]

The Genius Factory is written by David Plotz and is based on a series of articles he wrote for Slate.  The book doesn't really discuss the mechanics of sperm donations, it addresses the folly of trying to design babies and the hubris of the people behind this effort.  
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/pro...=UTF8&n=507846

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## Jedi

> The book doesn't really discuss the mechanics of sperm donations


I think most of us have a firm grip on that one. 



sorry

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## jediron1

Jedi
I think most of us have a firm grip on that one. 



sorry[/QUOTE]


Quote from inside cover:
Believing America was facing genetic catastrophe, Robert Graham, an eccentric millionaire, decided he could reverse the decline by artificially inseminating women with the sperm of geniuses. In February 1980, Graham opened the Repository for Germinal Choice and stocked it with the seed of gifted scientists, inventors, and thinkers. Over the next nineteen years, Grahams genius factory produced more than two hundred children.

Again Pass the cup the sperm are coming

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## mlm

So I changed my mind and ended up reading _Harry Potter_ since my brother was kind enough to lend me his copy.  :D

And he gave me _Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking_ (by Malcolm Gladwell) for my birthday. From what I can tell, it's about intuition and decision making. Should prove to be an interesting read, even though it looks a bit heavy for summer reading.

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## hcjilson

1776 is a take! Very readable and highlights the important role George Washington played. According to McColloch he was singularly the reason the revolutionary war was won by the colonists.

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## jediron1

:Rolleyes:  

I started the trilogy called FireBird by kathy Tyers very interesting reading!
Also am reading The Ahriman Gate by Thomas and Nita Horn
:D

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## Lynne

> See, now I like the trashy romance stuff, especially if it is set in the Elizibethan era so I just finished "The Kings Fool" 2nd in a trilogy- the first was "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Phillipa Gregory. I love that English history stuff and these are set in that time with all the real players involved. You all like that stuff you have to think to read.


Have you read the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon?  I couldn't put the darn things down - set in 20th Century, and the 18th, won't say more, but I LOVE THEM!!! :cheers:

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## Steve Machol

Finished _Harry Potter, What's the Matter with Kansas_, and _Collapse._ 

Now reading_ Isaac Asimov's Guide to the Bible (Old and New Testaments)_ and _Freakonomics_.

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