Bright Moments Posted May 31, 2006 Report Posted May 31, 2006 Graham Greene - Travels with my Aunt what a great writer! One of my favorite Greene novels. I also particularly liked Monsignor Quixote. i am half way through. i read our man in havana last year. any recommendations for my next greene? Quote
ejp626 Posted May 31, 2006 Report Posted May 31, 2006 (edited) Graham Greene - Travels with my Aunt what a great writer! One of my favorite Greene novels. I also particularly liked Monsignor Quixote. i am half way through. i read our man in havana last year. any recommendations for my next greene? In addition to MQ, I would recommend The Third Man (if you haven't seen the film), The Quiet American and maybe Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party (a late novel). (I don't remember too much about Doctor Fischer other than it seemed inspired by and perhaps a bit overwhelmed by Dr. Strangelove.) Edited May 31, 2006 by ejp626 Quote
Bright Moments Posted May 31, 2006 Report Posted May 31, 2006 Graham Greene - Travels with my Aunt what a great writer! One of my favorite Greene novels. I also particularly liked Monsignor Quixote. i am half way through. i read our man in havana last year. any recommendations for my next greene? In addition to MQ, I would recommend The Third Man (if you haven't seen the film), The Quiet American and maybe Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party (a late novel). thx! Quote
jlhoots Posted June 1, 2006 Report Posted June 1, 2006 loved it! I agree. There are a number of relatively young writers that are really doing excellent work. These include Krauss, Jonathan Safran Foer (her husband), Myla Goldberg & T. Cooper. A somewhat "older" group including Michael Chabon & Jonathan Lethem also provide much reading pleasure. Quote
ghost of miles Posted June 1, 2006 Author Report Posted June 1, 2006 Graham Greene - Travels with my Aunt what a great writer! One of my favorite Greene novels. I also particularly liked Monsignor Quixote. i am half way through. i read our man in havana last year. any recommendations for my next greene? In addition to MQ, I would recommend The Third Man (if you haven't seen the film), The Quiet American and maybe Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party (a late novel). (I don't remember too much about Doctor Fischer other than it seemed inspired by and perhaps a bit overwhelmed by Dr. Strangelove.) BRIGHTON ROCK, too. One I'd still like to read and haven't gotten around to yet is THE POWER & THE GLORY. Quote
king ubu Posted June 1, 2006 Report Posted June 1, 2006 ... There are a number of relatively young writers that are really doing excellent work. These include Krauss, Jonathan Safran Foer (her husband), Myla Goldberg & T. Cooper. A somewhat "older" group including Michael Chabon & Jonathan Lethem also provide much reading pleasure. I have not yet read anything by Chabon or Lethem, never heard the names of Goldberg and Cooper, but I loved Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior... although some time after having read it ("Everything is illuminated", that is), I had some doubts about how good it actually is... sure, it's "brilliant", and his use of language indeed is creative and often hilariously funny, but still... the worst criticism about that book that I heard (and from a person for whom I have much esteem) was that Foer was some kid who knew how to use google and was good as pasting things together... I am not absolutely certain that this criticism is totally off the point. I don't really follow the US/UK book market, but some authors are being discussed in some Swiss and German newspapers... usually, though, only once their books are out in German, which is when I start looking for the english editions... I also read "Corrections" - terrific! Would he fit into that group of younger writers, too? Oh, and one of the better books I've read just for fun (most of the stuff I read is for University and not always all that funny...) was E.L. Doctorow's "City of God". Quote
jlhoots Posted June 1, 2006 Report Posted June 1, 2006 (edited) ... There are a number of relatively young writers that are really doing excellent work. These include Krauss, Jonathan Safran Foer (her husband), Myla Goldberg & T. Cooper. A somewhat "older" group including Michael Chabon & Jonathan Lethem also provide much reading pleasure. I have not yet read anything by Chabon or Lethem, never heard the names of Goldberg and Cooper, but I loved Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior... although some time after having read it ("Everything is illuminated", that is), I had some doubts about how good it actually is... sure, it's "brilliant", and his use of language indeed is creative and often hilariously funny, but still... the worst criticism about that book that I heard (and from a person for whom I have much esteem) was that Foer was some kid who knew how to use google and was good as pasting things together... I am not absolutely certain that this criticism is totally off the point. I don't really follow the US/UK book market, but some authors are being discussed in some Swiss and German newspapers... usually, though, only once their books are out in German, which is when I start looking for the english editions... I also read "Corrections" - terrific! Would he fit into that group of younger writers, too? Oh, and one of the better books I've read just for fun (most of the stuff I read is for University and not always all that funny...) was E.L. Doctorow's "City of God". Myla Goldberg: Bee Season (much better than her 2nd novel). T. Cooper: Lipshitz Six or 2 Angry Blondes Michael Chabon: The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay Jonathan Lethem: Fortress Of Solitude & Motherless Brooklyn Foer has his share of critics, but I've liked both of the novels I've read. Strauss also has a novel titled Man Walks Into A Room that is well worth reading. Corrections is Franzen's best writing (IMHO). You might also like Sigrid Nunez: The Last Of Her Kind. Edited June 1, 2006 by jlhoots Quote
king ubu Posted June 1, 2006 Report Posted June 1, 2006 Thanks a lot for these recommendations! Quote
ghost of miles Posted June 3, 2006 Author Report Posted June 3, 2006 Sandy Tolan's THE LEMON TREE: AN ARAB, A JEW, AND THE HEART OF THE MIDDLE EAST. Also hoping, while I'm on vacation, to get started on John Gennari's BLOWIN' HOT & COOL and Ashley Kahn's THE HOUSE THAT TRANE BUILT. Regarding younger writers, I really enjoyed Adam Haslett's debut collection of short stories, YOU ARE NOT A STRANGER HERE, which came out about two or three years back. Haslett was pursuing a law degree, but I'd be eager to read any new work by him. Quote
ghost of miles Posted June 10, 2006 Author Report Posted June 10, 2006 Highly recommend THE LEMON TREE for anyone interested in a very upclose view of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict... also finished Philip Roth's THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA, but his lame resolution nearly ruined the novel for me. About 45 pages into Gennari's BLOWIN' HOT & COOL... and also reading a very interesting book called GOING, GOING, GONE: VANISHED AMERICANA. (Wrong on vinyl, though!) Damn, why does my vacation have to end? Quote
jazzbo Posted June 10, 2006 Report Posted June 10, 2006 "Darkness at Dawn," a collection of the first "suspense" stories from Cornell Woolrich written between 1934 and 1935. I'm on a Woolrich kick. Quote
Matthew Posted June 10, 2006 Report Posted June 10, 2006 Jim Bouton's Ball Four. I had forgotten how gosh darn funny this book is. I haven't read this in, at least, thirty years, and it's bringing back so many memories -- wow. The Seattle Pilots, one year and gone, amazing to have a record of that team. An to top it all off, Weizzy posted pictures of the baseball cards for some of the players on that team. Baseball from back when I first started to love the game -- wow. Quote
BruceH Posted June 10, 2006 Report Posted June 10, 2006 "Darkness at Dawn," a collection of the first "suspense" stories from Cornell Woolrich written between 1934 and 1935. I'm on a Woolrich kick. Not good for your mental health! Quote
Nate Dorward Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 Michael Chabon: The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay ... Foer has his share of critics, but I've liked both of the novels I've read. The Chabon is excellent, ditto Wonder Boys. On the other hand, I found Foer's Everything Is Illuminated sufficiently nauseating I couldn't get past the first thirty pages. Current reading: a stack of Colette novels/novellas; the 1957-1958 volume of the Complete Peanuts; Lem's Solaris; Jim Harrison's Sundog. Quote
jazzbo Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 "Darkness at Dawn," a collection of the first "suspense" stories from Cornell Woolrich written between 1934 and 1935. I'm on a Woolrich kick. Not good for your mental health! Don't find that he affects my mental health at all! But I love the way he writes, just fascinates me. Quote
TheMusicalMarine Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 Just finished William Manchester's The Last Lion Alone: 1932-1940. For admirers of Churchill, this and its preceding volume are indispensible. The book is a fascinating read and Manchester was a brilliant writer. Quote
ejp626 Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 Brockmeier's A Brief History of the Dead. I enjoyed this, but the reviews are mixed. The main set-up is that there is a city in which the newly dead reside, until everyone who knew them is dead, at which point they pass onto another, even more mysterious location. The next major plot point is that terrorists have released a virus that gets so completely out of hand that it decimates the entire global population, except for a handful of researchers at the South Pole. The chapters then alternate between the city of the dead and the South Pole. Some people wanted more of one setting rather than the other. I found the city of the dead chapters a lot more interesting and somewhat agree that aspects of it aren't really fleshed out or thought all the way through. My favorite bit from an Amazon reviewer is about how the dead eat burgers, so does that mean there is a small army of newly dead cattle kept for the sole purpose of being eaten a second time. But it was certainly an entertaining read. For a slightly more coherent metaphysical headtrip, take a look at James Morrow's Towing Jehovah about a captain who is given the task of towing God's dead body to the equator to atone for his past mistakes, most notably rupturing an oil tanker and spilling crude oil all over the Alaskan shore. Quote
Matthew Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 Stephen Ambrose's D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II. It's a very interesting read. I never realized how complex the invasion was (kinda thought, a couple of boats and there they were!), also a lot of sadness involved in reading the book -- the soldiers were so young, it's heartbreaking to read an excerpt from some GI's letter home, then read the footnote that he died in action . I know someone who was a GI and was part of the D-Day invasion (received a Purple Heart), I'm going to see if he cares to talk about it or not. Quote
paul secor Posted June 13, 2006 Report Posted June 13, 2006 Oxford American 2003 Music Issue - courtesy of a good friend; articles on and appreciations of artists ranging from Memphis Minnie to King Pleasure to The Collins Kids to Chris King, a young 78 record collector, to Swamp Dogg to Otis Blackwell to P.J. Proby and on and on. Quote
paul secor Posted June 23, 2006 Report Posted June 23, 2006 "Meeting E.P." by Samuel Hynes in the June 12, 2006 New Yorker - A Marine pilot seeks out Ezra Pound. and Michael Dirda's essay on Guy Davenport in Readings. Quote
jlhoots Posted June 23, 2006 Report Posted June 23, 2006 Kent Haruf: Eventide Llosa: Aunt Julia & The Scriptwriter Quote
paul secor Posted June 24, 2006 Report Posted June 24, 2006 Guy Davenport's essay "Ezra Pound 1885-1972" in The Geography of the Imagination" Quote
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