Now reading...

[ghost of miles]

[ejp626]

Updike's Rabbit, Run.  I expect to get through the whole Rabbit series over the next few weeks.  First time really exploring Updike's fiction. 

[Brad]

I finally gave up for now on Berlin Alexanderplatz; I couldn’t get comfortable with Döblin’s style of writing. 

I purchased Sense and Sensibility some time ago and have picked it up again. The introduction is a bit turgid. I often think that these introductions are better as after words. 

[ghost of miles]

On 9/15/2015 at 5:54 PM, king ubu said:

just finished:

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Between the World and Me: most impressive, and rather shocking, though much of it isn't really all that new ... it's been quite a while that a book has so deeply moved me.

I need to finally get around to reading both this and We Were Eight Years In Power. Did you see the interviews he did with Obama near the end of Obama’s presidency? Great conversations (the Atlantic published unedited transcripts).

[jlhoots]

Tommy Orange: There There

[soulpope]

[king ubu]

On 2.12.2018 at 4:34 PM, ghost of miles said:

I need to finally get around to reading both this and We Were Eight Years In Power. Did you see the interviews he did with Obama near the end of Obama’s presidency? Great conversations (the Atlantic published unedited transcripts).

Alas no.

I have "Eight Years" on the frighteningly high reading pile, too (have read some of it online though - not sure how different the book versions will be, or if at all).

[ghost of miles]

Just got this and am starting it immediately—as in, as soon as I finish this post and put my cellphone down:

[mjazzg]

Really enjoying the early chapters of this and hoping it stays such a good read. 

Inevitably revisiting the early albums that meant so much to me so long ago now and enjoying them again for the first time in a long time

[jlhoots]

Timothy Hallinan: Night Town

[HutchFan]

9 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

Inevitably revisiting the early albums that meant so much to me so long ago now and enjoying them again for the first time in a long time

That's so much fun -- like revisiting old friends.

[mjazzg]

7 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

That's so much fun -- like revisiting old friends.

It is. So many memories with these songs

[Matthew]

The Sparrow: Mary Doria Russell

[ejp626]

Nearly done with Adam Langer's Crossing California, which tells the story of 3 families in West Rogers Park, Chicago from 1979-Jan 81 (somewhat portentously/pretentiously the same period US hostages were held in Iran).  It's pretty interesting stuff, particularly for someone who lived through the 70s as a child (though I'm a few years younger than these characters).

Probably will leave it at that, but maybe some day I will read The Washington Story, which picks up and continues the stories of the various characters as they (or some of them) move out of Chicago.

[Brad]

Finished this earlier a few days ago. It's a remarkable book  Ellis looks at the founders (Jefferson, Adams, Madison and Washington) on a particular issue and then discusses that issue from today's perspective.

Edited December 9, 2018 by Brad

[soulpope]

[ejp626]

Just finished Updike's Rabbit Redux.  Quite a few issues with this book, since it can't quite determine if it wants to be symbolic or realistic (I mean no way does Skeeter just camp out for weeks given he is a wanted man...).   I kept thinking that this was basically a literary version of Apocalypse Now (not necessarily a good thing).

In any event, I've come this far and would like to complete the Rabbit series, so I launch into Rabbit is Rich next.

Very soon I'll get to Krzhizhanovsky's The Letter Killers Club (NYRB), which I expect I'll enjoy a bit more.

 

[paul secor]

9 hours ago, soulpope said:

I wish that I could read (and speak) another language. Ken Singleton, who was a very good ballplayer and who now announces for the Yankees, had a good line during a game last season: What do you call a person who only speaks one language? An American.

[soulpope]

3 minutes ago, paul secor said:

I wish that I could read (and speak) another language. Ken Singleton, who was a very good ballplayer and who now announces for the Yankees, had a good line during a game last season: What do you call a person who only speaks one language? An American.

 ....

[kinuta]

An entertaining read.

[soulpope]

[kinuta]

[sidewinder]

Good stuff !

[soulpope]

[Bluesnik]

Actually rereading it because I already read it when it came out ten or nine years ago. But I'm even liking it more this second time. It's very good. And well researched. As all Ted Gioia books.