Now reading...

[paul secor]

J.D. Salinger: Nine Stories

Reread for the first time in about 45 years. Interesting to see the strengths and weaknesses of these stories from the perspective of years.

[BillF]

[B. Goren.]

[jlhoots]

Louise Erdrich: The Round House

[ejp626]

And I hated The Corrections and left it half unfinished in an airport lobby (then went on and bought The Mill on the Floss for something more to my taste for the return trip).

So I got about halfway through Mill on the Floss. (I probably could have finished it up on the plane ride home, but after they dimmed the cabin lights, my personalized light actually shone on my neighbour's seat -- so frustrating!) I think Mill on the Floss is a pretty good book, but one that I admire a bit more than I enjoy. The father is just too stubborn for me to really care for him, and I really don't care for Tom, who seems a right prat on top of being pretty thick. I probably can relate a bit more to Maggie now, given that my daughter is a pretty willful child (like Maggie, she even cut off a bit of her hair, which is not that uncommon for young girls apparently).

I'm also about halfway through rereading Ishmael Reed's The Freelance Pallbearers. (Appropriately enough, this is a bathroom book. I know, TMI, but if you've read the book, you'll understand why this is relevant.) I liked the book a bit more the first time around, but I still like it a lot more than Flight to Canada, which we were discussing a few weeks ago. The verbal exuberance and general craziness is about the same, but Reed's targets of scorn are a bit more generic, i.e. he isn't attacking any specific politician or religion. As shallow as it sounds, I really could not get past his purile put-downs of Abraham Lincoln in Flight to Canada, though I disliked a lot of other aspects of the book.

But the same general problem remains in that Reed seems to take down everyone and everything he comes in contact with (organized religion, Black nationalists, fifth columnists, double agents, lesbians, government workers, social workers, etc.). I'm genuinely curious if he views anyone or anything in a positive light. I find it exhausting being myself, and I am probably only 25% as critical of the world as Reed is.

[jazzbo]

Re-reading my Dad's second biography, a fascinating read about an important little-known American.

On top of that, my Dad writes wonderful prose.

Edited October 17, 2012 by jazzbo

[ejp626]

I'm also about halfway through rereading Ishmael Reed's The Freelance Pallbearers. (Appropriately enough, this is a bathroom book. I know, TMI, but if you've read the book, you'll understand why this is relevant.) I liked the book a bit more the first time around, but I still like it a lot more than Flight to Canada, which we were discussing a few weeks ago. The verbal exuberance and general craziness is about the same, but Reed's targets of scorn are a bit more generic...

What I had forgotten (or repressed) is that the ending is basically a several page-long homophobic screed. Really brought me down with a bang. I'm through with Reed -- he's just such a hateful, pitiful person (I still vividly remember what a d-bag he was when he started dogging out Alice Walker and other Black female writers) and that always ends up coming through in his writing.

[Matthew]

The Shadow Over Santa Susana: Black Magic, Mind Control & The Manson Family by Adam Gorightly. Different and strange.

[Jazzmoose]

After all these years, I finally picked up Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive, so I figured I'd enjoy this one again to get started.

Credited with more or less inaugurating a new sub-genre of sf (well, along with a few early Bruce Sterling things.) For all that, I never much cared for it.

I loved it, but I had that feeling while reading it that Gibson would be one of those one trick pony types. I can't say Count Zero completely knocked that impression out, but I was pleasantly surprised with it. On the other hand, I decided to put off Mona Lisa Overdrive for a bit; it isn't really a series, but rather more of a set of books with a common background. Instead I went with this to follow:

Nowhere near the level of Childhood's End, but still a good read.

[medjuck]

Salman Rushdie's "Joseph Anton".

Edit because I couldn't write 4 words without mis-spelling one of them.

Edited October 17, 2012 by medjuck

[Matthew]

Salman Rushdie's "Joseph Anton".

Edit because I couldn't write 4 words without mis-spelling one of them.

Must be that philosophy degree you have, you create your own reality.

[BillF]

[ejp626]

I am re-reading Rushdie's Midnight's Children -- possibly his best novel. I've decided to go ahead and see the movie, so I wanted to have the book fixed in my head before it can be "spoiled" by the movie. But just in general, I'm hoping to read or reread some decent novels, after a really long string of duds.

I also have a couple of much shorter novels that I may end up tackling on the bus: Futility by William Gerhardie and The Waitress Was New by Dominique Fabre.

[paul secor]

Haruki Murakami: Norwegian Wood

[Jazzmoose]

Not a book, but I've been enjoying the latest issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction. I remember a while back someone started a thread asking about newer SF writers, and if I remember correctly, they were quite generous in the time frame to qualify as 'newer'. I couldn't name a one. So, I figured that while I'm delving back into the field, why not check out some of the newer folks and subscribed to the remaining SF magazines I remember (F&SF, Asimovs and Analog). A rare splurge on my budget these days, but once in a while you just have to jump...

[A Lark Ascending]

[BruceH]

After all these years, I finally picked up Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive, so I figured I'd enjoy this one again to get started.

Credited with more or less inaugurating a new sub-genre of sf (well, along with a few early Bruce Sterling things.) For all that, I never much cared for it.

I loved it, but I had that feeling while reading it that Gibson would be one of those one trick pony types. I can't say Count Zero completely knocked that impression out, but I was pleasantly surprised with it. On the other hand, I decided to put off Mona Lisa Overdrive for a bit; it isn't really a series, but rather more of a set of books with a common background. Instead I went with this to follow:

Nowhere near the level of Childhood's End, but still a good read.

After years of being a Clarke fan, I concluded that none of his novels are as good as Childhood's End.

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

[jazzbo]

[Jazzmoose]

After years of being a Clarke fan, I concluded that none of his novels are as good as Childhood's End.

I haven't read too many novels by him; that's too bad. On the other hand, as good as Childhood's End was, it's understandable.

[BillF]

[jazzbo]

Edited November 1, 2012 by jazzbo

[Larry Kart]

Salman Rushdie's "Joseph Anton"

[BruceH]

After years of being a Clarke fan, I concluded that none of his novels are as good as Childhood's End.

I haven't read too many novels by him; that's too bad. On the other hand, as good as Childhood's End was, it's understandable.

Actually, growing up I think there were times when I preferred his science fact writing.

[paul secor]

Colin Dexter: The Way Through the Woods

Inspector Morse is one of my favorite literary characters.