ghost of miles Posted March 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2010 Rereading The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton by Michael Mott to get in my mind a good overall feel sense Merton's life. Heaven help me, but I'm 99% certain that I am going to blog a commentary on Merton's Journals. And thanks for reminding me of WATERLAND--I've been wanting to read that book for years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted March 7, 2010 Report Share Posted March 7, 2010 Waterland by Graham Swift. Just got this from the library today, and started reading this for the first time in a long while. First of all, I cannot believe this was published twenty-seven years ago, where does time go? I remember the first time I read this book, when I finished, I went right back to page one, and started all over again. It's still that powerful, what a wonderfully written book, one of the best in the past thirty years. One of my desert island books! Some wonderful ruminations on history in its pages. Highly evocative of the Fenland region of East Anglia where it is set. And very good on eels too! Bev: Have you seen the movie version of the book? It's out on dvd and it has Jeremy Irons in the lead. I'm tempted to buy it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted March 7, 2010 Report Share Posted March 7, 2010 (edited) Bev: Have you seen the movie version of the book? It's out on dvd and it has Jeremy Irons in the lead. I'm tempted to buy it... You know, I can't remember. I'm sure I must have! This doesn't strike me as a book it would be easy to film. How do you handle all the background history and philosophy (and biology!)? I rarely read books more than once - I read this one twice! Not the same at all, but a book which also gets the brain thinking about the big questions: I must read that again. Edited March 7, 2010 by Bev Stapleton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted March 7, 2010 Report Share Posted March 7, 2010 (edited) Another thumbs up for Waterland! Now reading Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. Ah, those bricks-and-mortar days! Edited March 7, 2010 by BillF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sal Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 I recently finished re-reading "Slaughterhouse-Five" for the first time in 13 years. I'm pleased to say that to this reader, it has not lost a bit of its magic. I also recently read a very enjoyable non-fiction book called "Soccernomics: Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil Win, and Why the U.S., Japan, Australia, Turkey--and Even Iraq--Are Destined to Become the Kings of the World's Most Popular Sport" I just started reading "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" this afternoon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted March 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 Not reading yet, but I'm hearing good things about Adam Haslett's new novel, UNION ATLANTIC. I loved his short-story collection (YOU ARE NOT A STRANGER HERE), so I'll probably be checking this one out as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 My 'ol beat-up copy from '54. Some fine short stories by O. Henry, Joe Alsop, Ring Lardener, Irvin Cobb, C.S. Forester, Faulkner, Joe Hergesheimer (anyone here ever read Hergesheimer's 'Java Head'?). Includes various cover reprints spanning the decades. The March 6,1948 one by Rockwell ('Gossip') is a hoot. A great collection that you can get for a song over at Amazon. 1 cent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 Richard Powers: The Time Of Our Singing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 Richard Powers: The Time Of Our Singing How is that? I went through a lot of Powers' books, then I just got tired of all the erudition, which started to come off as know-it-allism to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jostber Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 (edited) Gilles Tremlett - Ghosts of Spain, Travels Through Spain And It's Silent Past Edited March 8, 2010 by jostber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 Richard Powers: The Time Of Our Singing How is that? I went through a lot of Powers' books, then I just got tired of all the erudition, which started to come off as know-it-allism to me. First one of his I've tried. So far I like it. Erudite for sure, but the concept of this one intrigued me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted March 9, 2010 Report Share Posted March 9, 2010 C.J. Cherryh: Serpent's Reach I'm not sure how I missed her works before, but she writes excellent SF. As I recall, back in the 70's, she, Joan D. Vinge, and of course Ursula K. LeGuin were considered the Big Three women SF writers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 Well, I think the main problem is that Cherryh was published mainly by DAW books, and for some reason, I had this impression of DAW as some cheap garbage publisher back in the seventies and early eighties, and so avoided their books completely. I missed out on a lot of good SF with this misguided approach; I'm trying to make up for it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 I read a lot of her stuff then. Good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted March 12, 2010 Report Share Posted March 12, 2010 (edited) Read a number of poems from August Kleinzahler's The Strange Hours Travelers Keep while walking this morning. Edited March 12, 2010 by paul secor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted March 12, 2010 Report Share Posted March 12, 2010 The Miles Davis Reader: Interviews and Features From Downbeat Magazine. Very nice collection of the articles in Downbeat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted March 12, 2010 Report Share Posted March 12, 2010 Alice Munro, The Love of a Good Woman Superb short story writer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted March 14, 2010 Report Share Posted March 14, 2010 Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles Davis by Jack Chambers. I've always liked this one, lots of information. I now have numerous books, more than I dare count, at various stages of completion, about Miles cluttering my desk and tables in my home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted March 14, 2010 Report Share Posted March 14, 2010 Just finished Nathalie Sarraute's TROPISMS. Now I'm flipping through James Wagner's THE FALSE SUN RECORDINGS (for all you readers of contemporary American poetry.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted March 21, 2010 Report Share Posted March 21, 2010 The Boys' Crusade: The American Infantry In Northwestern Europe, 1944 - 1945 by Paul Fussell. Interesting take by Fussell, trying to convey the reality of the infantryman's life in Europe. Not too many pages, just 165, but an interesting read. I might try his memoirs next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted March 21, 2010 Report Share Posted March 21, 2010 Well, my plans have been shot to hell, but I've still read some interesting things. I wrapped up Divided Cities. It's pretty good actually, for an academic book. I finished Buffalo by Sidney Blair (it's been my cardio workout book). Not to be confused with The Night Buffalo by Guillermo Arriaga, which is also on my reading list. I've continued my detour into Soviet literature and am about 1/3 through Alexander Kaletski's Metro. I'll probably wrap up The Burn by Vassily Aksyonov by the end of March and get back to my master plan of Mahfouz, Narayan and Nabokov. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted March 21, 2010 Report Share Posted March 21, 2010 Asimov, Foundation & Empire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdavenport Posted March 23, 2010 Report Share Posted March 23, 2010 (edited) Still reading "Brave New World". I've developed a bit of a taste for these "dystopian future" books. Over the past year I've read Burgess's "Clockwork Orange" and "1985", "1984" and a Martin Amis short story. Anyone got any other suggestions? Preferably not too sci-fi. Edited March 23, 2010 by rdavenport Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted March 23, 2010 Report Share Posted March 23, 2010 (edited) Try Edgar Pangborn's "The Judment of Eve." In some ways lighter weight than the others, but not the worse for it. Edited March 23, 2010 by jazzbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted March 23, 2010 Report Share Posted March 23, 2010 Asimov, The Complete Stories Vol 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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