Now reading...

[JohnJ]

Asked this in another forum, but since this is the right place: any Andrew Vachss fans, in particular his Burke series? I've been sitting on the last three - Down Here, Mask Market and Terminal and am about to dig in.

I don't think things get more noire than Vachss.....

I am a big fan of the Burke series. Love the first four or five, indeed as noire as they come.

My favourite modern crime novelist is James Crumley. To quote The Guardian, 'The poet laureate of American hard-bioiled literature'.

The Last Good Kiss by Crumley is one of the all-time best in the genre.

Agreed! His best, I think, and that is high praise indeed.

[djbinder]

Probably best to try the Eisler Rain novels in chronological order. The first one is Rain Fall. I can't say they're great literature, but pretty exciting within the espionage genre. Lots of globe-trotting, "tradecraft" and cynical plot twists. Perhaps Burke and Rain share some psychological characteristics.

Hey, nothing wrong with good escapism - frankly, these days that's what I'm looking for in a read; life is complex enough...!

Pity that Burke's dog Pansy died. I think the last novel in the series I read was the one just before she kicked it.

Well, you might want to check out that one and those after, especially the first 2-3. Burke is basically ambushed, Pansy is shot and killed, he's critically injured and, when all's said and done, he ends up having to leave New York for awhile, so the books take a different turn. He's been back in New York for the past four books, as I recall, and the outside stories have helped add more depth to the ones back in the Big Apple.

Thanks for the tip on the Rain novels, will check it out.

[djbinder]

My favourite modern crime novelist is James Crumley. To quote The Guardian, 'The poet laureate of American hard-bioiled literature'.

The Last Good Kiss by Crumley is one of the all-time best in the genre.

Thanks, both of you, for another rec; uh oh; I see myself about to start spending again...

[BruceH]

Big Daddy---Jesse Unruh and the Art Of Power Politics

[BillF]

Red Callender and Elaine Cohen, Unfinished Dream: the Musical World of Red Callender

Edited February 10, 2008 by BillF

[jazzbo]

Almost finished with this one. After this I may read "No Country for Old Men" by McCarthy.

[BillF]

Almost finished with this one. After this I may read "No Country for Old Men" by McCarthy.

Just finished the McCarthy novel. Felt I had to read it to sort out what happens in the movie!

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

[ghost of miles]

Ray Boomhower, ROBERT KENNEDY AND THE 1968 INDIANA PRIMARY. (Out in April from the IU Press) This one's particularly timely, given that the Indiana Democratic primary in May will actually matter for the first time since...the 1968 primary?

[sal]

"Diary" by Chuck Palahniuk

Question: Can anyone recommend a good book on African history surveying the last 100 years or so?

[porcy62]

"Diary" by Chuck Palahniuk

Question: Can anyone recommend a good book on African history surveying the last 100 years or so?

PM to our moderator MG, he's very fond of african history. The best source over here, and beyond.

[ejp626]

I have been reading a cartload of South African literature for a paper I am working on.

I've actually never read Paton's Cry the Beloved Country before now. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Then I read more obscure novels such as Welcome to Our Hillbrow, Ways of Dying, and now Tsotsi (the last one was made into a movie). Generally kind of depressing. For the most part, the evil tidings hinted at in Cry the Beloved Country came to pass and the later novels are soaked in fear and violence: Black on White, White on Black and Black on Black.

[Jazzmoose]

Almost finished with this one.

So now that you're finished (or almost) what do you think? Recommend it?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

"Diary" by Chuck Palahniuk

Question: Can anyone recommend a good book on African history surveying the last 100 years or so?

I read "Africa since independence" by Paul Nugent a couple of months ago. That's pretty interesting. Although it focuses on the post-independence period, there's substantial bits on the lead up.

But what it doesn't do is take a "this happened, then that, then the other" approach across the whole continent. It looks at different themes, such as military take-overs, and contrasts different ways this happened in different places.

MG

[jazzbo]

Almost finished with this one.

So now that you're finished (or almost) what do you think? Recommend it?

Yes, with a qualification. It's a nobrainer of interest to anyone who has done a fair amount of study of seminal Christianity and Egyptology and the mystery religions, etc. Will be quite interesting to that person.

I'm finding it hard to evaluate the overall thesis and explication. I'm familiar witih about 60 percent of the Egyptian background material presented, maybe more but it's not that fully and clearly delineated. It has made me interested in learning more about the scholars that inspired the book, especially Kuhn and Massey, and I'll probably try to find some representative works of theirs. Perhaps some of my misgivings about the presentation of material will be mollified when I wade through the notes.

I'd say this Mark, I think if you were initially drawn to the book you'll enjoy a read of it.

[jazzbo]

[Christiern]

This being Black History Month, I thought I'd take a backward glance at my own history/childhood (I work with black history every day). So, I am reading such books as "Den Store Bastian". This book was written and illustrated by a German doctor, Heinrich Hoffmann, in 1844. Original title was "Struwwelpeter" and Bastian ("Der grosse Nicolas" in the original) is actually Santa Claus, but he severely punishes young boys for their misdeeds. Making fun of a black boy gets them dipped into an inkwell, for example. When I was a kid, every child foind this book under the tree, but I had a difficult time finding it in Copenhagen stores, because it is now considered politically incorrect.

Bastian is a very quick read, so my main reading this month is another nostalgia trip, the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales. I have an edition in English, but my favorite is the one seen below, which has great illustrations and is reproduced in the Danish of Andersen's time. He was an amazing man with interesting observations and vision, as in the story seen below, where he predicts aerial flights across the Atlantic. There is also a poignant story about a Jewish girl and the lunacy of discrimination. Most Americans are familiar with only a handful of his stories, which is a shame. BTW, I have old family letters that mention evenings when Andersen came to the house and read to the children from his books.

[Bright Moments]

This being Black History Month, I thought I'd take a backward glance at my own history/childhood (I work with black history every day). So, I am reading such books as "Den Store Bastian". This book was written and illustrated by a German doctor, Heinrich Hoffmann, in 1844. Original title was "Struwwelpeter" and Bastian ("Der grosse Nicolas" in the original) is actually Santa Claus, but he severely punishes young boys for their misdeeds. Making fun of a black boy gets them dipped into an inkwell, for example. When I was a kid, every child foind this book under the tree, but I had a difficult time finding it in Copenhagen stores, because it is now considered politically incorrect.

Bastian is a very quick read, so my main reading this month is another nostalgia trip, the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales. I have an edition in English, but my favorite is the one seen below, which has great illustrations and is reproduced in the Danish of Andersen's time. He was an amazing man with interesting observations and vision, as in the story seen below, where he predicts aerial flights across the Atlantic. There is also a poignant story about a Jewish girl and the lunacy of discrimination. Most Americans are familiar with only a handful of his stories, which is a shame. BTW, I have old family letters that mention evenings when Andersen came to the house and read to the children from his books.

this book scared the bejeeesus out of me when i was a kid - particularly the one where the girl who sucks her thumbs gets 'em cut off and the boy who wont eat his soup starves to death!

[Christiern]

That's why Danes today take a dim view of it, and why I had to run around to find a copy. In my childhood, this book was to Danish kids what Dr. Seuss was/is to American children.

Was t something kids here read? Why did you have it as a kid?

[Bright Moments]

That's why Danes today take a dim view of it, and why I had to run around to find a copy. In my childhood, this book was to Danish kids what Dr. Seuss was/is to American children.

Was t something kids here read? Why did you have it as a kid?

it was known here as "shock-headed peter"

little did we know that the author was hitler's buddy!

Edited February 16, 2008 by Bright Moments

[Christiern]

Hitler's buddy? Are you being funny again?

BTW "Shock-headed Peter" is a terrible title!

[Bright Moments]

Hitler's buddy? Are you being funny again?

i am afraid not!

hoffmann

hitler's friend

[Bright Moments]

ok maybe i am kidding - but this dude has the same name!

hoffmann

pretty odd!

[Christiern]

We are talking 1880's here--a bit too early. Also, dipping white boys into an inkwell as punishment for laughing at a black boy is something Hitler would not have approved of.

[T.D.]

Just ordered:

The Complete Novels (Everyman's Library (Cloth)) Flann O'Brien; Hardcover;

Give My Regards to Eighth Street: Collected Writings of Morton Feldman Morton Feldman; Paperback