Now reading...

[Brad]

52 minutes ago, Matthew said:

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll look and see about the Mendelsohn book, sometimes, if I wait for awhile, the Kindle version will go on sale of a book.

It’s outstanding. Mendelsohn relates at the beginning of the book how when he was a kid, he’d visit his relatives in Miami and they would wail about his resemblance to his Uncle. 

[ejp626]

I finished Farrell's The Singapore Grip, completing his Empire Trilogy.  I thought the ending was a bit of a strange cop-out, but overall it's a good read.  Of the three, I'd have to say Troubles, the first, is my favorite.

I'm midway through Vanderhaeghe's Homesick now, which is about a widow returning with her young son to her father's house. 

 

After this, I think I start in on rereading Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March.

[ghost of miles]

I’ve been interested in the writer and revolutionary Victor Serge for quite awhile now and have finally gotten (and begun reading) Susan Weissman’s biography of him. I have most if not all of the NYRB Classics reprints of his books, and reading the bio will hopefully spur me on to read the NYRBs as well:

 

On 4/30/2023 at 2:30 PM, Brad said:

It’s outstanding. Mendelsohn relates at the beginning of the book how when he was a kid, he’d visit his relatives in Miami and they would wail about his resemblance to his Uncle. 

I have that Mendelsohn book and plan to eventually read it as well. A big second for the Beevor and Atkinson recommendations. For those interested in the war in the Pacific, Ian W. Toll has written a fine trilogy that serves as a counterpart to Atkinson’s saga of the European Theater.

Edited May 2, 2023 by ghost of miles

[jlhoots]

I'm going to read David Grann's new book, The Wager.

[ghost of miles]

On 4/27/2023 at 4:21 PM, Matthew said:

Reporting World War II. I've always wanted to read these two volumes, but kept holding back. Recently, I read a review by Alan Jacobs and it made me finally order it. Just started but the articles are very well written, makes me long for that quality of writing about events today. It'll take probably the rest of the year to finish.

To add: One of the things I've come to realize is how much WWII was in the background and social atmosphere when I grew up (lived in San Diego), and it was the reference for everything. A lot of the, to me, old people I knew were WWII veterans, it was just a part of the culture. Now, it's not. I don't have a nostalgia for the war, but now that the vets are dying out fast, I feel a need to learn about it more than ever. One of the persons I respected the most in my life made the D-Day landing and was wounded about a week after. It all seems so far away now.

The LOA’s Reporting Vietnam and their two-volume collection of civil-rights-era journalism are also outstanding collections. Re the lingering consciousness of WWII when we were growing up, so true. Weird to think that Vietnam is much farther back in the rearview mirror now than WWII was when we were kids. 

[JSngry]

But all those desert wars are front and center, still. 

[Matthew]

3 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

The LOA’s Reporting Vietnam and their two-volume collection of civil-rights-era journalism are also outstanding collections. Re the lingering consciousness of WWII when we were growing up, so true. Weird to think that Vietnam is much farther back in the rearview mirror now than WWII was when we were kids. 

I don't mean this in a political way (know that is forbidden), but it is interesting, and incredibly sad, that since WWI, there has been this continuous background of people who have gone through war in the USA. Maybe it's more of an undercurrent, but there is a lot of people walking around with war time trauma as a part of their emotional / physical makeup since 1914.

Edited May 2, 2023 by Matthew

[gvopedz]

55 minutes ago, Matthew said:

I don't mean this in a political way (know that is forbidden), but it is interesting, and incredibly sad, that since WWI, there has been this continuous background of people who have gone through war in the USA. Maybe it's more of an undercurrent, but there is a lot of people walking around with war time trauma as a part of their emotional / physical makeup since 1914.

I would bet the US Civil War also left a significant number of people traumatized.

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, gvopedz said:

I would bet the US Civil War also left a significant number of people traumatized.

Still does... 

[Brad]

I haven’t done a whole lot of reading on the Pacific Theatre as I always found the European front more fascinating but Ronald Spector’s Eagle Against the Sun is very good. He has a new one out called A Continent Erupts about the post 1945 period in Asia that is supposed to be excellent. 

1 hour ago, gvopedz said:

I would bet the US Civil War also left a significant number of people traumatized.

There have been some studies done about the PTSD that CW veterans suffered but can’t remember the books. 

[JSngry]

Ronnie Spector? 

[Larry Kart]

I find Vanessa to be a more attractive figure than her sister Virginia (Woolf).

i

[Brad]

Just finished the sequel to Olive Kitteridge. These two books are some of the most rewarding reading experiences I’ve had lately. 

[rostasi]

[jlhoots]

Ann Napolitano: Hello Beautiful

[Gheorghe]

Reading in English is great for me as long as it is album cover text or musical biography. For other materia my vocabulary is too limited, so most books from anglo-american authors I read in translated version.

 

Here "Jocuri de putere" which means "Power Plays" written by Danielle Steel. We have ton´s of translated books on romanian books-online stores they are my favourite non jazz lectura. 

This is about a female director executiv and a male director executiv, and their different characters. 

The male is always braggin´ about his position and is a womanizer, the woman doesn´t want to share her success with the public....., very good insight into the business world. 

[Dmitry]

4 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

Reading in English is great for me as long as it is album cover text or musical biography. For other materia my vocabulary is too limited, so most books from anglo-american authors I read in translated version.

 

Here "Jocuri de putere" which means "Power Plays" written by Danielle Steel. We have ton´s of translated books on romanian books-online stores they are my favourite non jazz lectura. 

This is about a female director executiv and a male director executiv, and their different characters. 

The male is always braggin´ about his position and is a womanizer, the woman doesn´t want to share her success with the public....., very good insight into the business world. 

I hadn't realized you are Romanian. Were you born there?

On 5/2/2023 at 7:33 PM, Larry Kart said:

I find Vanessa to be a more attractive figure than her sister Virginia (Woolf).

i

I learned about the Bloomsbury Group and Formalism in the Art Criticism course I just finished. Clive Bell's Art was one of the books we discussed.

On 5/2/2023 at 4:24 PM, JSngry said:

Still does... 

Nice quip. Well put!

[Gheorghe]

14 minutes ago, Dmitry said:

I hadn't realized you are Romanian. Were you born there?

 

 

 

Born in Viena, but family line from România, Cluj-District, half Romanian, half Hungarian since in that area is also a minority of Hungarian. It seems that beneath a lot of  Jewish blood this was my strongest descendance, since I had practically lived down there for a long time and a part of my day job needs Romanian language, family the same, so it happens I speak and read and write more in Romanian than in German, crazy but true. 

[Dub Modal]

5 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

Reading in English is great for me as long as it is album cover text or musical biography. For other materia my vocabulary is too limited, so most books from anglo-american authors I read in translated version.

 

Here "Jocuri de putere" which means "Power Plays" written by Danielle Steel. We have ton´s of translated books on romanian books-online stores they are my favourite non jazz lectura. 

This is about a female director executiv and a male director executiv, and their different characters. 

The male is always braggin´ about his position and is a womanizer, the woman doesn´t want to share her success with the public....., very good insight into the business world. 

Pretty much THEE female author of the 90s here in the US meaning the most prominent at the time (at least one of the top selling - her books were literally everywhere). Never read anything by her. Go figure. 

[Simon8]

On 11/20/2022 at 2:59 PM, BillF said:

👍👍

[GA Russell]

[rostasi]

[GA Russell]

[BillF]

[ejp626]

Had a bit of a detour but now will try to wrap up Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March.

I was reading Murakami's new short story collection - First Person Singular.  Unfortunately, I found these stories pretty shallow and unsatisfying.  Definitely glad I just picked it up from the library!