What's everybody reading?
Re: What's everybody reading?
Speaking of Kindles, my latest published short story is available on one. Private message me if you're interested in checking it out.
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Re: What's everybody reading?
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy became the first novel I read on my Kindle. I got it as a Christmas gift--it's the most basic version.
It's a very good book, right up my alley. LeCarre definitely respects the reader and doesn't mind throwing us right in the middle of things without tons of exposition and backstory. There might have been a few too many sequences where the characters describe (for pages and pages) past events...I would've preferred that LeCarre just flash back to those scenes. Very good book though...definitely plan on reading the rest of the Karla trilogy.
Next, though, I think I'll read Walker Percy's The Last Gentleman.
It's a very good book, right up my alley. LeCarre definitely respects the reader and doesn't mind throwing us right in the middle of things without tons of exposition and backstory. There might have been a few too many sequences where the characters describe (for pages and pages) past events...I would've preferred that LeCarre just flash back to those scenes. Very good book though...definitely plan on reading the rest of the Karla trilogy.
Next, though, I think I'll read Walker Percy's The Last Gentleman.
Re: What's everybody reading?
danfrank, I read that earlier this year. I echo your take on the Wilkerson. I actually bought it for my mom for Christmas since then.
Currently on Haruki Murakami's latest, 1Q84. Loving it so far.
Currently on Haruki Murakami's latest, 1Q84. Loving it so far.
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Re: What's everybody reading?
I finished Tegu Cole's super-intelligent, super-detached, scarily unemotional "Open City". There are two indulgences that work against it, at least to my peevish tastes. There are no quotation marks when people speak, and the novel begins with the word "And..." But it's a vividly written, episodic novel pretty much about nothing at all. There's no dramatic momentum, the German-Nigerian New Yorker narrator is a shell, and then towards the end is a bombshell of information (true? not true?) which adds a layer of ominous color to this previously colorless observer of his surroundings. I still don't know what it added up to, but I know I'll read it again, just to check, and it's not often that I reread books. The pharse "I admired it but I didn't love it" doesn't quite apply here because I loved nearly every part of it I read without loving it as a whole. But it's a challenge to love a book like this.
I'm now plowing through Suketu Mehta's "Maximum City", and 'plowing through' is the only way I'll be able to read this thousand-pager because I'll never finish it otherwise.
I'm now plowing through Suketu Mehta's "Maximum City", and 'plowing through' is the only way I'll be able to read this thousand-pager because I'll never finish it otherwise.
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
Win Butler
Re: What's everybody reading?
Last month I finished reading This is a Book by Demetri Martin. It's very funny. I recommend it to anyone interested in absurdity and irony.
Right now I'm working on Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. It's pretty witty, heartwarming, and sometimes rather goofy. The story doesn't preach and it doesn't mock. It's a fun story about Jesus and his asshole friend - enjoyable even for an agnostic like me.
My next book to read is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I bought it back in March but haven't gotten around to it. It shall be read before I see Fincher's adaptation.
Right now I'm working on Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. It's pretty witty, heartwarming, and sometimes rather goofy. The story doesn't preach and it doesn't mock. It's a fun story about Jesus and his asshole friend - enjoyable even for an agnostic like me.
My next book to read is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I bought it back in March but haven't gotten around to it. It shall be read before I see Fincher's adaptation.
Re: What's everybody reading?
I just finished reading The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration. Isabel Wilkerson, a journalist, isn't a great analyst. However, she's chosen a very effective format: closely following three migrants to illustrate the larger story of the great migration of African Americans from the South to points North and West. This very important part of American history finally gets its due. It was, for me, a very sad but very compelling read.
Re: What's everybody reading?
Shame this thread has gone very downhill...our resident bibliophile phenom Franz seems to be off the grid, so that probably explains a good bit of it. I hope everyone is still reading when they get time...this thread always made me aspire to be able to demolish books the way some of you can...
I'm finishing up Girls with the Dragon Tattoo and the Help...then moving on to the Updike Rabbit series I've never gotten around to reading.
What's been happening since May with everyone else's reading?
I'm finishing up Girls with the Dragon Tattoo and the Help...then moving on to the Updike Rabbit series I've never gotten around to reading.
What's been happening since May with everyone else's reading?
Re: What's everybody reading?
The Mysterious Flame Of Queen Loana (Umberto Eco)
Picked it up on a total impulse at a used book store. I had never read anything of Eco's. I always thought of him as an academic who wrote some highly accalaimed novels like Foucault's Pendulum and The Name Of The Rose. The back cover made it sound like an intriguing story. Two years later I finally read it and liked it, though I can see why it is considered one of Eco's lesser works. The ending is quite unsatisfying (I can picture Eco getting increasingly frustrated as he is trying to figure out how to end this) and, other than the protagonist Yambo, the characters are weak and serve only to provide devices to move the story along. But I think the purpose of this novel is to explore the role of memory and our prior experiences in making us who we are. The important parts of the story are the thoughts and inner life of Yambo. The other characters are not really important, except as they move Yambo's journey of self discovery.
At the beginning of the novel, sixty year old Yambo experiences an apparent stroke (referred to as his "incident") causing a special kind of amnesia. He does not know who he is and his wife, daughters and grandchildren are strangers. He does not recognize a picture of his deceased parents. He has no memory of his past experiences. However, he knows he is an antique book dealer and has the knowledge to return and function in that job (though his co-workers are now strangers). He can drive a car, cook and order food in a restaurant, and do all he needs to function on a daily basis. He is also aware of almost all important current and past historical events but there are telling twists. Eco gives a clever example of how the "incident" affected Yambo. He knows JFK was a US President and Aldo Moro was an Italian Prime Minister. But when his wife Paola (conveniently a practicing psychologist who helps Yambo and the readers understand what is going on) asks him what else they have in common he cannot give the obvious answer that they were both assassinated. Paola explains that Yambo had a strong emotional reaction to their murders so that information entered the same black hole that his life memories entered.
Yambo also remembers details of everything he has read, and he is a very well read man (a trait he no doubt shares with Eco). That made the beginning chapters an en entertaining but time consuming experience. When he first came out of his brief coma, he would associate every sight, sound, smell, touch, etc. with a beautiful piece of literature or poetry (or comic books he enjoyed as a child) he knew by heart. After a couple of trips to Google I found a website dedicated to anotating the references to literature, films, comics, celebrities from his childhood, etc. contained in the novel. I had a ball going to this site and re-reading some of these paragraphs. This site really came in handy when Yambo went to his childhood home and found boxes of books, comics, toys and other paraphernalia from his childhood. The novel has hundred of beautiful illustrations of almost all of these materials. I feel like I came close to experiencing what it was like to grow up in Fascist/WWII era Italy (Yambo's family moved to a remote area of Italy where that was little combat). At least it was an entertaining and important education for this American.
I was emotionally invested in Yambo's effort to recover his memories. But I wondered if it was necessary for him to do so. He had a wife, family and friends that loved him, a satisfying career he was very good at, and he was respected in his community. Is he not a whole person because he does not remember the episodes in his past, even if he knows what happened in an intellectual sense? I do not remember reading a novel that caused me to consider these questions. Good work by Eco. I will read his other novels. I hope and expect that he is considered a national treasure to his fellow Italians.
Picked it up on a total impulse at a used book store. I had never read anything of Eco's. I always thought of him as an academic who wrote some highly accalaimed novels like Foucault's Pendulum and The Name Of The Rose. The back cover made it sound like an intriguing story. Two years later I finally read it and liked it, though I can see why it is considered one of Eco's lesser works. The ending is quite unsatisfying (I can picture Eco getting increasingly frustrated as he is trying to figure out how to end this) and, other than the protagonist Yambo, the characters are weak and serve only to provide devices to move the story along. But I think the purpose of this novel is to explore the role of memory and our prior experiences in making us who we are. The important parts of the story are the thoughts and inner life of Yambo. The other characters are not really important, except as they move Yambo's journey of self discovery.
At the beginning of the novel, sixty year old Yambo experiences an apparent stroke (referred to as his "incident") causing a special kind of amnesia. He does not know who he is and his wife, daughters and grandchildren are strangers. He does not recognize a picture of his deceased parents. He has no memory of his past experiences. However, he knows he is an antique book dealer and has the knowledge to return and function in that job (though his co-workers are now strangers). He can drive a car, cook and order food in a restaurant, and do all he needs to function on a daily basis. He is also aware of almost all important current and past historical events but there are telling twists. Eco gives a clever example of how the "incident" affected Yambo. He knows JFK was a US President and Aldo Moro was an Italian Prime Minister. But when his wife Paola (conveniently a practicing psychologist who helps Yambo and the readers understand what is going on) asks him what else they have in common he cannot give the obvious answer that they were both assassinated. Paola explains that Yambo had a strong emotional reaction to their murders so that information entered the same black hole that his life memories entered.
Yambo also remembers details of everything he has read, and he is a very well read man (a trait he no doubt shares with Eco). That made the beginning chapters an en entertaining but time consuming experience. When he first came out of his brief coma, he would associate every sight, sound, smell, touch, etc. with a beautiful piece of literature or poetry (or comic books he enjoyed as a child) he knew by heart. After a couple of trips to Google I found a website dedicated to anotating the references to literature, films, comics, celebrities from his childhood, etc. contained in the novel. I had a ball going to this site and re-reading some of these paragraphs. This site really came in handy when Yambo went to his childhood home and found boxes of books, comics, toys and other paraphernalia from his childhood. The novel has hundred of beautiful illustrations of almost all of these materials. I feel like I came close to experiencing what it was like to grow up in Fascist/WWII era Italy (Yambo's family moved to a remote area of Italy where that was little combat). At least it was an entertaining and important education for this American.
I was emotionally invested in Yambo's effort to recover his memories. But I wondered if it was necessary for him to do so. He had a wife, family and friends that loved him, a satisfying career he was very good at, and he was respected in his community. Is he not a whole person because he does not remember the episodes in his past, even if he knows what happened in an intellectual sense? I do not remember reading a novel that caused me to consider these questions. Good work by Eco. I will read his other novels. I hope and expect that he is considered a national treasure to his fellow Italians.
The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living. Oliver Wendell Holmes
I'm about a third through Water For Elephants and would say it's a very good piece of popular fiction. Sara Gruen is adept at colorful characterizations and ambiance. It's a quite enjoyable read.dws1982 wrote:My mom and sister both liked it a good bit. My mom is the more discerning reader of the two. I think she probably wasn't quite as enthusiastic as my sister, but she did like it, although more as an entertainment than anything.Mister Tee wrote:Damien, is Water for Elephants respectable fiction, or just a crass best-seller? By the time I was aware of it, it was too late to track down initial reviews. Was it highly-enough rated, or something more along Kite Runner lines?
I'm reading E.L. Doctorow's The March. Very good book, but it the narrative got bogged down a bit in South Carolina. After that, I may re-read Daniel Mendelsohn's The Lost, or I may try reading some Mario Vargas Llosa.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
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My mom and sister both liked it a good bit. My mom is the more discerning reader of the two. I think she probably wasn't quite as enthusiastic as my sister, but she did like it, although more as an entertainment than anything.Mister Tee wrote:Damien, is Water for Elephants respectable fiction, or just a crass best-seller? By the time I was aware of it, it was too late to track down initial reviews. Was it highly-enough rated, or something more along Kite Runner lines?
I'm reading E.L. Doctorow's The March. Very good book, but it the narrative got bogged down a bit in South Carolina. After that, I may re-read Daniel Mendelsohn's The Lost, or I may try reading some Mario Vargas Llosa.
I'm on a Vonnegut kick right now. I just read God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, which is an effective satire on the nonsensicality of heirloom financial legacy in this country. Cynical bastard that he is, one gets the impression that Vonnegut thinks the whole shebang is a wash from the ground up. It's not like he's wrong per se. It's a very funny book, but coming after Slaughterhouse-Five for me, it's a bit like following a wrecking ball with spit-wads. Through no fault of his own, mind you, as he wrote this before.
Next up is Cat's Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, and Angels in America.
Next up is Cat's Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, and Angels in America.
"How's the despair?"
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I've spent much of my year reading 2666. There's something a bit draining about reading anything so long (nearly 900 dense pages), and there were times in the mid-section that I was tempted to put it aside a while and vary my routine with something else. But every time I got that notion, I'd read a few more pages, and think, no, ths is too damn good to not complete now. Ultimately, I got to the final "book", and flew through that. The book is truly a major piece of work, and I regret it's the last we'll see from Bolano.
Damien, is Water for Elephants respectable fiction, or just a crass best-seller? By the time I was aware of it, it was too late to track down initial reviews. Was it highly-enough rated, or something more along Kite Runner lines?
My movie tie-in -- finished in a few days, a real change after 2666 -- is One Day, which will be Scherfig's follow-up to An Education. It won't be the easiest project to translate to screen, as it's dependent upon a structural trick (vaguely borrowed ftom Same Time, Next Year) and the best stuff in it is the characters' interior lives -- the bare bones of the plot aren't terribly interesting and, in a couple of spots, the book turns cheaply melodramatic. Anne Hathaway is probably a good choice for the fenmale lead; Jim Sturgess will have his work cut out for him making likable a character who's largely an asshole; and Patricia Clarkson seems perfect for the mother role, though it's questionable how much screen-time she'll get.
Damien, is Water for Elephants respectable fiction, or just a crass best-seller? By the time I was aware of it, it was too late to track down initial reviews. Was it highly-enough rated, or something more along Kite Runner lines?
My movie tie-in -- finished in a few days, a real change after 2666 -- is One Day, which will be Scherfig's follow-up to An Education. It won't be the easiest project to translate to screen, as it's dependent upon a structural trick (vaguely borrowed ftom Same Time, Next Year) and the best stuff in it is the characters' interior lives -- the bare bones of the plot aren't terribly interesting and, in a couple of spots, the book turns cheaply melodramatic. Anne Hathaway is probably a good choice for the fenmale lead; Jim Sturgess will have his work cut out for him making likable a character who's largely an asshole; and Patricia Clarkson seems perfect for the mother role, though it's questionable how much screen-time she'll get.