Now reading...

[Jazzmoose]

C.J. Cherryh: Serpent's Reach

I'm not sure how I missed her works before, but she writes excellent SF.

[jazzbo]

Yes

[Van Basten II]

Michel Folco's latest.

Don't know if the fellow has been translated in english, are they frenchies here who are digging his stuff ?

Never h(re)ad so far. Historical satyrs ? How do you like it ?

Liked it a lot, he has a way of writing that is quite Americanized very punchy and despite the lenght of the book not too wordy, the narration is quite ironical but straight forward and the story is quite a wild ride, meeting a young Hitler, Sigmund Freud and a family who has a very special relation with religion, in terms of popular litterature you can do a whole lot worse than him.

Will try to pick up his previous books.

Now reading this

Not exactly great litterature, but books about fighters are rather scarce especially if you take away subjects like Ali otr Tyson. Written by a close friend, it may be too hagiographic for its own good but it still is an entertaining book that tells the story of one of the last TV boxing Star, you know when boxing used to appear on regular networks.

Edited March 4, 2010 by Van Basten II

[Matthew]

So What: The Life of Miles Davis. John Szwed's biography of Miles Davis, which I will read during my business trip the next ten days. Nothing helps reading like long lay-overs in airports..

Good choice! I found it very readable.

Got about 2/3 of the way through (have to return it to the library, I'll get it again in a day or so) but it is a very good read. It's interesting how Miles' life has a pronounced mythic component, where reading about his life, it already seems to fall into jazz cliche mode, but yet, it was a real life. One of the interesting points that Szwed makes is that Miles was not a "modern person" of the sixties, but was really a throwback to the 1950's, and makes the caparison that Miles was actually like Elliott Gould's Philip Marlowe in The Long Goodbye, an outdated character adrift in the modern world, with values and outlooks that are out of sync with what is going on around him. You could write some great articles of some of the off-hand comments that Szwed makes.

Edited March 5, 2010 by Matthew

[jazzbo]

[A Lark Ascending]

and makes the caparison that Miles was actually like Elliott Gould's Philip Marlowe in The Long Goodbye, an outdated character adrift in the modern world, with values and outlooks that are out of sync with what is going on around him.

That might explain his dress sense from the late 60s!

[BillF]

Re-read Christopher Isherwood's A Single Man after seeing the movie. Interesting differences! He doesn't own a gun in the book!

[Matthew]

Rereading The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton by Michael Mott to get in my mind a good overall feel sense Merton's life. Heaven help me, but I'm 99% certain that I am going to blog a commentary on Merton's Journals.

[Van Basten II]

Finished it, the main failure of this book is that for a boxing book it talks little of boxing but more of the moral story of Vinny's comeback and never give up attitude. Fights are described in very few details if they are any. . If you wanna read an uplifting story pick it up, if you're an hardcore boxing fan, save your money.

Currently reading this

Juliette by the Marquis de Sade

Doing a Google search to find a proper image using words livre histoire de juliette marquis de sade 10/18, at some point I had a picture of an Hilary Clinton book

[paul secor]

Clifford Brown by Nick Catalano - I'd read a lot of negative things about it but decided to give it a shot. Big mistake - one of the most poorly written books I've ever read.

It did inspire me to listen to some Clifford Brown, which was a good thing, but I can't imagine ever having a desire to reread it, or even to reread parts of it.

[Jazzmoose]

Finished it, the main failure of this book is that for a boxing book it talks little of boxing but more of the moral story of Vinny's comeback and never give up attitude. Fights are described in very few details if they are any. . If you wanna read an uplifting story pick it up, if you're an hardcore boxing fan, save your money.

Well, since my image of Paz changed over time from "courageous come back kid" to "whining cheap shot artist", I guess I'll pass...

[Matthew]

Waterland by Graham Swift. Just got this from the library today, and started reading this for the first time in a long while. First of all, I cannot believe this was published twenty-seven years ago, where does time go? I remember the first time I read this book, when I finished, I went right back to page one, and started all over again. It's still that powerful, what a wonderfully written book, one of the best in the past thirty years.

Edited March 6, 2010 by Matthew

[A Lark Ascending]

Waterland by Graham Swift. Just got this from the library today, and started reading this for the first time in a long while. First of all, I cannot believe this was published twenty-seven years ago, where does time go? I remember the first time I read this book, when I finished, I went right back to page one, and started all over again. It's still that powerful, what a wonderfully written book, one of the best in the past thirty years.

One of my desert island books! Some wonderful ruminations on history in its pages. Highly evocative of the Fenland region of East Anglia where it is set. And very good on eels too!

[ghost of miles]

Rereading The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton by Michael Mott to get in my mind a good overall feel sense Merton's life. Heaven help me, but I'm 99% certain that I am going to blog a commentary on Merton's Journals.

And thanks for reminding me of WATERLAND--I've been wanting to read that book for years.

[Matthew]

Waterland by Graham Swift. Just got this from the library today, and started reading this for the first time in a long while. First of all, I cannot believe this was published twenty-seven years ago, where does time go? I remember the first time I read this book, when I finished, I went right back to page one, and started all over again. It's still that powerful, what a wonderfully written book, one of the best in the past thirty years.

One of my desert island books! Some wonderful ruminations on history in its pages. Highly evocative of the Fenland region of East Anglia where it is set. And very good on eels too!

Bev: Have you seen the movie version of the book? It's out on dvd and it has Jeremy Irons in the lead. I'm tempted to buy it...

[A Lark Ascending]

Bev: Have you seen the movie version of the book? It's out on dvd and it has Jeremy Irons in the lead. I'm tempted to buy it...

You know, I can't remember. I'm sure I must have!

This doesn't strike me as a book it would be easy to film. How do you handle all the background history and philosophy (and biology!)?

I rarely read books more than once - I read this one twice!

Not the same at all, but a book which also gets the brain thinking about the big questions:

I must read that again.

Edited March 7, 2010 by Bev Stapleton

[BillF]

Another thumbs up for Waterland!

Now reading Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. Ah, those bricks-and-mortar days!

Edited March 7, 2010 by BillF

[sal]

I recently finished re-reading "Slaughterhouse-Five" for the first time in 13 years. I'm pleased to say that to this reader, it has not lost a bit of its magic.

I also recently read a very enjoyable non-fiction book called "Soccernomics: Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil Win, and Why the U.S., Japan, Australia, Turkey--and Even Iraq--Are Destined to Become the Kings of the World's Most Popular Sport"

I just started reading "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" this afternoon.

[ghost of miles]

Not reading yet, but I'm hearing good things about Adam Haslett's new novel, UNION ATLANTIC. I loved his short-story collection (YOU ARE NOT A STRANGER HERE), so I'll probably be checking this one out as well.

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

My 'ol beat-up copy from '54. Some fine short stories by O. Henry, Joe Alsop, Ring Lardener, Irvin Cobb, C.S. Forester, Faulkner, Joe Hergesheimer (anyone here ever read Hergesheimer's 'Java Head'?). Includes various cover reprints spanning the decades. The March 6,1948 one by Rockwell ('Gossip') is a hoot. A great collection that you can get for a song over at Amazon. 1 cent!

[jlhoots]

Richard Powers: The Time Of Our Singing

[Matthew]

Richard Powers: The Time Of Our Singing

How is that? I went through a lot of Powers' books, then I just got tired of all the erudition, which started to come off as know-it-allism to me.

[jostber]

Gilles Tremlett - Ghosts of Spain, Travels Through Spain And It's Silent Past

Edited March 8, 2010 by jostber

[jlhoots]

Richard Powers: The Time Of Our Singing

How is that? I went through a lot of Powers' books, then I just got tired of all the erudition, which started to come off as know-it-allism to me.

First one of his I've tried.

So far I like it.

Erudite for sure, but the concept of this one intrigued me.

[BruceH]

C.J. Cherryh: Serpent's Reach

I'm not sure how I missed her works before, but she writes excellent SF.

As I recall, back in the 70's, she, Joan D. Vinge, and of course Ursula K. LeGuin were considered the Big Three women SF writers.