jazzbo Posted April 20, 2009 Report Posted April 20, 2009 Re-reading complete prose of Pushkin, and also re-reading Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns. Quote
A Lark Ascending Posted April 20, 2009 Report Posted April 20, 2009 (edited) A fascinating tale of a famous set of stories told from a different side of the fence. I think we're living in a golden age for popular history. It's great to see so many books around with real narrative drive. Finished this - highly recommended if you like an exciting telling of the story of Cyrus, Darius and Xerxes and the collision with Athens and Sparta. The author looks very young, almost punkish and his style can be a bit breathless and and tabloid-ish with lots of use of contemporary terms to describe these events (part of his aim - to indicate the relevance of these events to our world). I imagine lovers of 'fine writing' will be outraged and immediately turn to their Herodotus but everyone else is promised a good time. Edited April 20, 2009 by Bev Stapleton Quote
Shawn Posted April 20, 2009 Report Posted April 20, 2009 Just finished up: Richard Matheson - I Am Legend Now trying to figure out what next.... Quote
Jazzmoose Posted April 20, 2009 Report Posted April 20, 2009 I imagine lovers of 'fine writing' will be outraged and immediately turn to their Herodotus but everyone else is promised a good time. You know, that one sentence is enough to qualify as a great review for me; I'll add it to my list! Currently reading Crunch by Jared Bernstein. I was hoping for something along the lines of Levitt and Dubner's Freakonomics (which is kind of like James Burke's Connections, but on economics), but this isn't it. It's a book on economics written for those clueless about economics. I have to admit that it's interesting to read a book written right before things went batshit that warns that things are worse than we think and could very well go batshit... Quote
Royal Oak Posted April 20, 2009 Report Posted April 20, 2009 More charity shop fare in the form of Richard Pryor's autobiog "Pryor Convictions". I'm not overly familiar with his work (ashamed to say limited to "Stir Crazy" and a couple of stand-up shows) but I have to say, based on the first few chapters, "motherfucker!" Quote
BruceH Posted April 20, 2009 Report Posted April 20, 2009 Just finished up: Richard Matheson - I Am Legend Now trying to figure out what next.... The Shrinking Man perhaps? Quote
sal Posted April 23, 2009 Report Posted April 23, 2009 (edited) Gabriel Garcia Marquez - "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" The only other Marquez I've read is "100 Years of Solitude", which I absolutely loved. I'm hoping his other works are, including the one I'm reading now, somewhat comparable. Edited April 23, 2009 by sal Quote
jlhoots Posted April 26, 2009 Report Posted April 26, 2009 Jhumpa Lahiri: Interpreter Of Maladies Quote
ejp626 Posted April 26, 2009 Report Posted April 26, 2009 Jhumpa Lahiri: Interpreter Of Maladies I thought this collection definitely had its moments, but felt that her novel The Namesake was almost a quantum leap above this in terms of the themes and characters. So if you like Interpreter, you will definitely like The Namesake. She has a new novel, which I haven't gotten yet, but will get around to fairly soon. Quote
jlhoots Posted April 26, 2009 Report Posted April 26, 2009 Jhumpa Lahiri: Interpreter Of Maladies I thought this collection definitely had its moments, but felt that her novel The Namesake was almost a quantum leap above this in terms of the themes and characters. So if you like Interpreter, you will definitely like The Namesake. She has a new novel, which I haven't gotten yet, but will get around to fairly soon. I'm going "backwards". Already read her new collection of stories, Unaccustomed Earth (excellent BTW), & The Namesake. Since Interpreter Of Maladies won the Pulitzer, I thought I should read it too. I'm through the 1st 3 stories - so far, so good. Saw her recently in person do a reading & an interview. A class act for sure. Quote
sal Posted April 27, 2009 Report Posted April 27, 2009 Jhumpa Lahiri: Interpreter Of Maladies I thought this collection definitely had its moments, but felt that her novel The Namesake was almost a quantum leap above this in terms of the themes and characters. So if you like Interpreter, you will definitely like The Namesake. She has a new novel, which I haven't gotten yet, but will get around to fairly soon. I'm going "backwards". Already read her new collection of stories, Unaccustomed Earth (excellent BTW), & The Namesake. Since Interpreter Of Maladies won the Pulitzer, I thought I should read it too. I'm through the 1st 3 stories - so far, so good. Saw her recently in person do a reading & an interview. A class act for sure. I have "Interpreter of Maladies" but have yet to read it yet. Heard many good things about it. I'm starting "Martian Time Slip" by Philip K. Dick today. Quote
medjuck Posted April 27, 2009 Report Posted April 27, 2009 About 90 pages in and it's hooked me. I finally finished the first three books ( my son gave me the boxed edition where they're in one volume and the last two books each get their own volume) but read a couple of other things at the same time: Mordecai Richler's "Barney's Version" and Alan Furst's "Night Soldiers." Anyone else here into Furst? Quote
blind-blake Posted April 27, 2009 Report Posted April 27, 2009 Angels and Demons (the sequel to the DaVinci Code). Hear it's coming out as a movie. Quote
A Lark Ascending Posted April 27, 2009 Report Posted April 27, 2009 Anyone else here into Furst? A while since I read one and think I'm two behind, but the first 5 or six are excellent. Takes you to parts of the pre-War/WWII world you don't usually think about (e.g. the Balkans). 30 years ago these would have been ripe for BBC serialisation. Quote
jazzbo Posted April 27, 2009 Report Posted April 27, 2009 Angels and Demons (the sequel to the DaVinci Code). Hear it's coming out as a movie. Adtually it's only a sequel as far as movies go. . . this book came before the Code. Great book. Better than the Code. Hope the movie's okay. Quote
ejp626 Posted April 27, 2009 Report Posted April 27, 2009 (edited) Anyone else here into Furst? A while since I read one and think I'm two behind, but the first 5 or six are excellent. Takes you to parts of the pre-War/WWII world you don't usually think about (e.g. the Balkans). 30 years ago these would have been ripe for BBC serialisation. Wait, who's on Furst? Edited April 27, 2009 by ejp626 Quote
sal Posted May 4, 2009 Report Posted May 4, 2009 I'm reading some of Ernest Hemingway's short stories, as I don't want to jump into a new novel quite yet. Chuck Palahniuk's "Pygmy" comes out this week and I'd like to read that as soon as I can get a copy of it. This morning, I read the story "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber". Wonderful! Quote
jazzbo Posted May 5, 2009 Report Posted May 5, 2009 I'm retrogressing. . .watching Miller movies made me do it. Quote
Niko Posted May 5, 2009 Report Posted May 5, 2009 I'm reading some of Ernest Hemingway's short stories, as I don't want to jump into a new novel quite yet. the sun also rises is one of my favorite books and i've read it quite a few times - strangely i never made through more than 50 pages of any of the others.... Quote
Jazzmoose Posted May 5, 2009 Report Posted May 5, 2009 I'm reading some of Ernest Hemingway's short stories, as I don't want to jump into a new novel quite yet. the sun also rises is one of my favorite books and i've read it quite a few times - strangely i never made through more than 50 pages of any of the others.... You're ahead of me; all I've read of Hemingway is short stories. Quote
BillF Posted May 5, 2009 Report Posted May 5, 2009 I'm reading some of Ernest Hemingway's short stories, as I don't want to jump into a new novel quite yet. the sun also rises is one of my favorite books and i've read it quite a few times - strangely i never made through more than 50 pages of any of the others.... You're ahead of me; all I've read of Hemingway is short stories. Time you gave A Farewell to Arms a try! Quote
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