Now reading...

[Van Basten II]

Dizzy's memoir To be or not to bop. Found a paperback version for 10 bucks in the bookstore.

[NaturalSoul]

Dizzy's memoir To be or not to bop. Found a paperback version for 10 bucks in the bookstore.

i was given that book as a gift, still haven't read it though! I might read that one next.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

about to start

Just My Soul Responding: Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness, and Race Relations

I picked up on that one, too. But it's hellish expensive from Amazon.uk - even from the sellers. So I thought I'd get the library to get one. But I think I really want one of my own. Where did you get yours NS?

MG

[NaturalSoul]

about to start

Just My Soul Responding: Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness, and Race Relations

I picked up on that one, too. But it's hellish expensive from Amazon.uk - even from the sellers. So I thought I'd get the library to get one. But I think I really want one of my own. Where did you get yours NS?

MG

I checked mine out from the library.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

about to start

Just My Soul Responding: Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness, and Race Relations

I picked up on that one, too. But it's hellish expensive from Amazon.uk - even from the sellers. So I thought I'd get the library to get one. But I think I really want one of my own. Where did you get yours NS?

MG

I checked mine out from the library.

Ah...

MG

[Guy Berger]

Ah...

MG

Damn. MG, when I saw you had posted in this thread, I was hoping to read your ecstatic review of the collected works of Winston Churchill.

Guy

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Ah...

MG

Damn. MG, when I saw you had posted in this thread, I was hoping to read your ecstatic review of the collected works of Winston Churchill.

Guy

WSC is not terribly well thought of among left wingers, particularly in this area - Tonypandy is only just over the hill from Tonyrefail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonypandy_Riot

MG

[jlhoots]

John Burdett: Bangkok Haunts (3rd in a series, they're all good).

[Matthew]

Bought the LOA edition of Philip Dick's 1960's novels, and just finished The Man in the High Castle , which turned out to a very interesting book, better then I remembered when I read it almost twentyfive years ago. Looking forward to reading the other three novels. My only caveat about the LOA edition is that it could have printed another novel very easily, it clocks in at 780 pages.

[Stefan Wood]

OK, I'll admit it. I finished reading the latest and final Harry Potter book. At 800 pages, it isn't light reading, and I will admit the first 200 pages could have been tighter, because it is a pain to read through. However, I think Rowling has concluded the series with a terrific book, one that recasts the other books in a different light. It has little to do with magic or fantasy and everything to do with the relationship between people, children and adults alike, and how complicated motives, relationships and actions can be. Other than Roald Dahl (that I can think of), Rowling has expressed how complicated and contradictory people can be, the power struggles in all relationships, and the importance of developed creative thinking to deal with life situations. Thumbs up.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

My daughter's sent hsband and kids away today, so she can do nothing but read it!

MG

[ejp626]

I'm going through a bunch of books to try to decide whether to keep or donate them. One was the SF novel A Case of Conscience by James Blish. I can't recall what my original reaction was, but this time around I thought it a completely stupid novel. What I can't understand is that when genre writers try to come up with a positive portrait of a religious person, esp. a Catholic, they always go over the top and these people are completely dogmatic. In fact, the novel ends with the Pope telling the lead character to excommunicate an entire planet!! I can't believe this won a Hugo. I'm having trouble tracking down whether Blish was or was not Catholic.

But the writer that really sticks in my craw is G.K. Chesterton. I really tried to like his Father Brown stories, but after a couple where the villian was always an atheist, who generally committed his crimes simply to get back at religious types, I gave up. The Father Brown stories and Case of Conscience both seem at about the level of religious cartoons, but personally I think Chesterton could have done better.

[Kalo]

Just finished The Westerners by Dee Brown. I've become more interested in the history of this period of as I've become more interested in the Hollywood movies about this time. I plan to read Brown's I Buried My Heart at Wounded Knee in the near future.

My book group will be reading Garry Wills's Lincoln at Gettysburg for our next meeting, so I thought I'd finally read James McPherson's one-volume Civil War history Battle Cry of Freedom for background. So far, it lives up to advance billing.

[MoGrubb]

The Lincoln Lawyer--Michael Connelly

Has anybody read any of Connelly's stuff? If so, would you consider his books pulp fiction? I'm fascinated as much by his writing, the technical/mechanics of how he keeps my attention as I am the story. The story is about a high powered defense attorney and how he handles clients from a business perspective, preparations and laying groundwork for going to trial.

I've read a 1/2 doz or so of his works, this is the first where a lawyer is the main character. IMO, an excellent read.

[poetrylover3]

Mr Paradise by Elmore Leonard. IMO our finest crime novelist toady and one of the best ever, ranking with Hammett and Chandler.

The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey. Still not sure about this one 35 pages into it. He writes well, but is style enough to carry it?

Who Built America?

It's vacation week so I have time to read, thank God!

Jeff T aka Blue Trane

[Van Basten II]

Reading a french version of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, fascinating stuff so far.

[BruceH]

Just finished The Westerners by Dee Brown. I've become more interested in the history of this period of as I've become more interested in the Hollywood movies about this time. I plan to read Brown's I Buried My Heart at Wounded Knee in the near future.

My book group will be reading Garry Wills's Lincoln at Gettysburg for our next meeting, so I thought I'd finally read James McPherson's one-volume Civil War history Battle Cry of Freedom for background. So far, it lives up to advance billing.

I love Battle Cry of Freedom, though I must admit it's been a heck of a long time since I read it. Glad to hear that you're digging it.

[Matthew]

Just finished Philip Dick's The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch , and maybe it's just me, but I thought it was a very weak novel, and the ideas were a mess. Sorry, but I'm very underwhelmed by the book.

[ghost of miles]

Richard Yates, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD.

[AndrewHill]

Right now: Organissimo, what else?

In August:

Aristotle's Metaphysics

[jazzbo]

Just finished Philip Dick's The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch , and maybe it's just me, but I thought it was a very weak novel, and the ideas were a mess. Sorry, but I'm very underwhelmed by the book.

I've only read this one four times. The second time I had broken up with a woman with whom I had shared my life for a few years, and that was when that book most connected with me.

But overall I'd disagree, I think it's a strong novel, and I really like what I see as gnostic elements in the novel, and the way in which seeking pleasure or escaping pain can bring ruin and litereally opens the door to evil.

[paul secor]

M.F.K. Fisher's essay "About Looking Alone at a Place" from As They Were

[T.D.]

The Lincoln Lawyer--Michael Connelly

Has anybody read any of Connelly's stuff? If so, would you consider his books pulp fiction? I'm fascinated as much by his writing, the technical/mechanics of how he keeps my attention as I am the story. The story is about a high powered defense attorney and how he handles clients from a business perspective, preparations and laying groundwork for going to trial.

I've read a 1/2 doz or so of his works, this is the first where a lawyer is the main character. IMO, an excellent read.

I'd rate Connelly's books higher than "pulp fiction", though he's definitely very commercial. I've read most if not all of his Harry Bosch novels, and was also very impressed by The Lincoln Lawyer.

If you haven't heard of Robert Crais, he's a somewhat similar author, LA-based, whose work you might also like (I think he and Connelly are friends, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a novel where Connelly's Bosch and Crais's Cole or Pike team up to some extent).

I've been reading more of Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen mysteries, most recently A Long Finish. These novels are Italian-based, with a high degree of cynicism. Recommended if you like, say, Bill James's Harpur and Iles books.

Recently finished Michael Chabon's Yiddish Policemen's Union, and was slightly disappointed.

Edited August 7, 2007 by T.D.

[Tom Storer]

Proust. I'm about halfway through. I've started it many times and always got side-tracked somewhere in the first two to four volumes, so this year my mission is to read it from start to finish. Quite a feast. No indigestion yet, though.

[7/4]

Just finished Philip Dick's The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch , and maybe it's just me, but I thought it was a very weak novel, and the ideas were a mess. Sorry, but I'm very underwhelmed by the book.

I've only read this one four times. The second time I had broken up with a woman with whom I had shared my life for a few years, and that was when that book most connected with me.

But overall I'd disagree, I think it's a strong novel, and I really like what I see as gnostic elements in the novel, and the way in which seeking pleasure or escaping pain can bring ruin and litereally opens the door to evil.

I thought it lost it's momentum towards the end.