paul secor Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 John Williams' novel Stoner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 I've been on a Robert Sheckeley kick, reading books of his short stories. Damn, he could write 'em! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Maxi Kim: ONE BREAK, A THOUSAND BLOWS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jostber Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Maxi Kim: ONE BREAK, A THOUSAND BLOWS! What's this one about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 (edited) Edited December 18, 2008 by jazzbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 I've been on a Robert Sheckeley kick, reading books of his short stories. Damn, he could write 'em! I especially love his short stories! Have you checked out the mammoth collection The Masque of Manana (NESFA Press) which has all his significant short SF work, as far as I can tell? There's some stuff in there that ranks with anything by William Tenn, though with a different flavor of course. The novels are (for the most part) great too, with Mindswap my favorite and Dimension of Miracles not far behind. Looking back at Sheckley, it seems that he did the "Hitchhikers' Guide" schtick both first and better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Maxi Kim: ONE BREAK, A THOUSAND BLOWS! What's this one about? Art school, Japan, continental post-modernism, sex and name-dropping. Full disclosure: the author and I attended the same graduate writing program and have many friends and colleagues in common -- many of them referenced / fictionalized in this book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Should start reading it in a day or two, depending how much free time i have at work I used to love his chain of mid-western pizza parlors as a kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patricia Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 Anthony Perkins - A Haunted Life by Ronald Bergen. I have been curious about Perkins for years. He drifted in and out of attention after "Psycho", which he never quite escaped. More interesting than I thought it would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 Alexandre Dumas: The Count Of Mount Cristo. IMHO an understimated work. It has everything matters: love, hate, revenge, good and God, fate, etc.. like a greek tragedy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Storer Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 Edward R. Tufte's "Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative." Wonderful discussions of the visual design of information display. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 I used to love his chain of mid-western pizza parlors as a kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 I've been on a Robert Sheckeley kick, reading books of his short stories. Damn, he could write 'em! I especially love his short stories! Have you checked out the mammoth collection The Masque of Manana (NESFA Press) which has all his significant short SF work, as far as I can tell? There's some stuff in there that ranks with anything by William Tenn, though with a different flavor of course. The novels are (for the most part) great too, with Mindswap my favorite and Dimension of Miracles not far behind. Looking back at Sheckley, it seems that he did the "Hitchhikers' Guide" schtick both first and better. No, I've just been combing the stores for paperbacks of his stuff. You know, I don't think I've ever read a novel of his, unless you count the expanded 10th Victim. Yeah, it's a different flavor, but he and Tenn are in a class above the rest. Great stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted December 20, 2008 Report Share Posted December 20, 2008 Clifford D Simak, The Civilisation Game and Other Stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serioza Posted December 20, 2008 Report Share Posted December 20, 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 St. Basil the Great (c. 330 – 379): The Hexameron: A series of homilies on the creation account in the book of Genesis. A beautiful meditation on creation, and what is fascinating is that a lot of the issues St. Basil deals with are still with us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalo Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 I've been working my way through David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest." Until I began reading it, I had no idea that it is largely set in a near-future version of the Boston neighborhood I live in: Allston, MA. Wha? It's set in a near-future Allston/Brighton/Brookline/Cambridge! And it's actually a brilliant, moving book, albeit with numerous Pynchonesque passages of too-clever-for-its -own-goodness. Infinitely more heart than Pynchon, though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 The Dimensioneers by Doris Piserchia. It's okay. I dunno if I'd recommend it. Look, I just felt like making a post, and I wasn't watching anything or listening to music, and I had the book with me at the computer (dial-up will do that to you), so there it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 Finished a couple of 'location' thrillers at the weekend. Both great fun: The first one part of Donna Leon's marvellous Brunetti series set in and around Venice; the second in Provence. Just starting: I found his last one ('Depths') unreadable - gave up after 70 pages. The first chapter of this one is much more engaging. Hoping for something with the narrative drive, multiple sub-plots and character depth of the Wallander series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted December 23, 2008 Report Share Posted December 23, 2008 I've been working my way through David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest." Until I began reading it, I had no idea that it is largely set in a near-future version of the Boston neighborhood I live in: Allston, MA. Wha? It's set in a near-future Allston/Brighton/Brookline/Cambridge! And it's actually a brilliant, moving book, albeit with numerous Pynchonesque passages of too-clever-for-its -own-goodness. Infinitely more heart than Pynchon, though! Must read it (or take a stab at it anyway.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poetrylover3 Posted December 23, 2008 Report Share Posted December 23, 2008 I'm reading: Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin and dipping into Joan Didion's We Tell Ourselves Stories In Order To Live and The Best American Mystery Stories 2008. The Lincoln is fascinating as I learn more about Lincoln and his political contemporaries than I ever did in school. Didion is a masterful stylist, second only to John McPhee for clarity, IMO. The Best American Mysteries provide a wide range of styles and introduce me to authors I've never read before. The Best American Series is a godsend for those folks like myself who have limited time to seek out new writers. Style matters to me and you simply can't get that from 99% of the book reviews out there. All the best for the Holidays and the coming New Year. Jeff T aka Blue Trane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randissimo Posted December 24, 2008 Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 Think I found a James Patterson 'Alex Cross' book I haven't read. 'Pop Goes The Weasel' .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted December 24, 2008 Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 I''m really digging Chabon's Yiddish Policemen's Union. It's got the world-weary tropes of the noir detective stories cross-fertilized with Jewish angst. It kind of goes right up to the edge of parody and skates back. What I'm feeling is if Samuel (I can't go on; I can't go on; I'll go on) Beckett was writing detective fiction and then for some reason made everyone in the story Jewish. Since it is set in Alaska, it is perfect reading in this weather. On the basis of this, I went ahead and got Kavalier & Clay, though I believe it has a very different feel, probably a lot more "shiny" and optimistic, as everyone (except minorities*) was in the Eisenhower years. Chabon is quite a writer, so I'll be interested how this one turns out. * Yes I am aware that the frission in this book comes from whether Jews are considered full Americans during the 50s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poetrylover3 Posted December 24, 2008 Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 Alexandre Dumas: The Count Of Mount Cristo. IMHO an understimated work. It has everything matters: love, hate, revenge, good and God, fate, etc.. like a greek tragedy. I agree. Dumas at his best wrote incredibly exciting entertainments. BTW, if you haven't read Richard Pevear's translation of The Three Musketeers, you owe it to yourself to do so in short order. Peace, Blue Trane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elissa Posted December 24, 2008 Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 Finished The Polish Officer and plan to read more of Alan Furst's war novels soon. Man are they great. First though, Martha Gellhorn's Selected Letters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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