Jump to content

Now reading...


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 9.1k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

I'm reading Dan Brown's "Angels & Demons". I've read nothing but intense books and "literature" this year, and just need a break. This one seems to be fitting the bill: light reading, entertaining story, and doesn't really require thought.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just finished:

51nU7PwKeaL._SL500_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-big,TopRight,35,-73_OU02_AA240_.jpg

One of those rare novels that can really communicate an enthusiasm for music, in this case chamber music.

Also reaching the end of:

shostakovich2.jpg

Tells the life story in a very matter of fact way, working hard to nail the myths. But in the process is a bit colourless with virtually no commentry on the music itself. 'Testimony' (which I read about 30 years ago) and Ian Macdonald's book on Shostakovich might get criticised for being inauthentic (Testimony) or overcoloured and speculative (MacDonnald) but they both really made me want to listen to the music. The historian in me approves of Fay's account...but it didn't excite me.

Edited by Bev Stapleton
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished up Glen Gold's Carter Beats the Devil

Really plot-driven, and a bit over the top, but in a good way. I could absolutely see this as a movie.

I'm about 1/3 of the way into Ted Mooney's Traffic and Laughter. This is somewhat reminiscent of Crash, though it actually came out a few years before the movie. I suppose any book set primarily in LA with a large cast of characters is going to remind me of Crash. It is also set in a slightly alternative future. As far as I can tell, the book is set in the late 1980s-early 90s, but they are only now getting around to testing the atomic bomb. Most parts of the book are fun, but when Mooney leaves LA, he leaves his footing. For example, when he shows us diplomats arguing about testing the bomb (in South Africa!), the dialogue is not convincing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been traveling a lot, still more to go, but the book I've brought with me is the Library of America edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald: Novel and Short Stories 1920 - 1922. I was much more impressed with This Side of Paradise this time, it just struck me in a more powerful manner than the last time I read the book. Flappers and Philospohers -- meh, I could take it or leave it. Getting ready to reread The Beautiful and Damned, which, the last time I read it, I thought was one of the most amoral books by an American writer that I ever held in my hands.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doubleday Anchor Bible volume of Genesis -- translation and extensive notes and commentary by E.A. Speiser. Have read this Genesis before, and each time it's like veils are lifting. The relationship between the various authors or teams of authors (J., P., and E.) is quite clear, and Speiser's account of what those authors were "saying" (quotes are necessary here, for reasons Speiser explains lucidly and at some length) is convincing and enlightening, at least to me; but I'm no scholar here.

That is a good commentary, I think that Genesis and Ezekiel are two of the strangest books in the Old Testament -- sometimes I read them and I don't understand a thing, others, it's a life enhancing experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Henry David Thoreau: Journals Vol. 1. The cool thing here is that the very first entry is dated October 22 1837, which is my birthday (the October 22, that is). The main cool thing though is Thoreau himself, who is such a unique character, and saw the world with such depth, that it is amazing. Enjoying this so much that I ordered volume two, and heaven's above, we're on a street called love, are they expensive at $79.00 a pop! Don't know how I'm going afford to keep getting them, but I have to find a way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

51WRXGSDXAL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

'To Serve Them All My Days' by R.F. Delderfield.

Saw a TV adaptation of this back in '79/'80 just as I was starting my teaching career. It tells the story of a shell-shocked ex-WWI chap from the Welsh valleys who finds himself teachinh history in a minor public school on Exmoor in Devon. Old fashioned sort of book but completely absorbing. Follows the events of the mid-20thC in Britain from the perspective of this isolated place.

A good tale well told.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wrapped up Ted Mooney's Traffic and Laughter. As I said, definitely some parallels to Crash. The ending is supposed to be ambiguous I guess, but also seems to imply that a fission bomb could be set off by being struck by a bullet. Highly unlikely I believe, not that I would want to test this out.

Anyway, surprised myself by finishing American Fuji by Sara Backer on a long airplane ride. This is one of those books that tries to get at the truth of contemporary Japan and explain it to American audiences. For that, it was still well done. Some parts of the plot stretch credibility, and yet the ending was still more moving than I expected.

Am in the midst of a short story collection by Lynne Schwartz called Acquainted with the Night. I am very underwhelmed and probably will just read a few more and drop it. The stories are from the late 70s and early 80s and just feel completely dated, particularly a few where everyone is in therapy. I wonder in general if short stories date worse than novels, or at least those that rely heavily on their setting rather than aiming for "the universal."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Henry David Thoreau: Journals Vol. 1. The cool thing here is that the very first entry is dated October 22 1837, which is my birthday (the October 22, that is). The main cool thing though is Thoreau himself, who is such a unique character, and saw the world with such depth, that it is amazing. Enjoying this so much that I ordered volume two, and heaven's above, we're on a street called love, are they expensive at $79.00 a pop! Don't know how I'm going afford to keep getting them, but I have to find a way.

Read Thoreau's Walden at university 45 years ago. Very unusual stuff for British university courses at the time. Hugely impressed and have never forgotten it. Perhaps one day I'll re-read it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Walden" is a true classic. A great and important book. I read it 2 or 3 years ago and it changed the way I look at my life and my role in the natural world. I don't think time has nullified its messages in any way.

I'm about to start reading Haruki Murakami's "Dance Dance Dance".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Michael Chabon's Manhood for Amateurs. Essay collection, fun read.

How are his novels? I have a copy of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" but haven't read it yet. A friend also recommended "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" to me recently.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Walden" is a true classic. A great and important book. I read it 2 or 3 years ago and it changed the way I look at my life and my role in the natural world. I don't think time has nullified its messages in any way.

On the contrary, it fits in with today's ecological thinking in a way that wasn't possible when I read it in the 60s. Truly great book.

Edited by BillF
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...