BillF Posted November 14, 2008 Report Posted November 14, 2008 Philip K Dick, Beyond Lies the Wub (Volume One of the Collected Short Stories) Quote
jazzbo Posted November 14, 2008 Report Posted November 14, 2008 That's the first of a great collection! Right now, "Farewell My Lovely", Raymond Chandler. . . rereading it for about the fifth time I estimate. Quote
Niko Posted November 14, 2008 Report Posted November 14, 2008 Just polished off this beautifully written little novel in about a day, as would anyone interested in the diaspora out of Germany in the 30s. read some of her other stuff and was nicely surprised to find out that keun wasn't only my favorite author's ex (joseph roth's) but a very good auhor in her own right Quote
BillF Posted November 14, 2008 Report Posted November 14, 2008 (edited) Right now, "Farewell My Lovely", Raymond Chandler. . . rereading it for about the fifth time I estimate. Like that one, too! Recently read PKD's Flow My Tears. Seemed like Chandler transposed into the future! Edited November 14, 2008 by BillF Quote
jostber Posted November 14, 2008 Report Posted November 14, 2008 Just read this: Matthew Fort - Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons: Travels in Sicily on a Vespa And now reading this: Karl Pilkington - Happyslapped by a Jellyfish: The Words of Karl Pilkington Quote
jazzbo Posted November 14, 2008 Report Posted November 14, 2008 Right now, "Farewell My Lovely", Raymond Chandler. . . rereading it for about the fifth time I estimate. Like that one, too! Recently read PKD's Flow My Tears. Seemed like Chandler transposed into the future! PKD talked about Chandler being an influence and you can see it in several novels, including "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep". . . . Chandler was SOMETHING ELSE. Incredible spinner of words. Quote
jazzbo Posted November 14, 2008 Report Posted November 14, 2008 That's possibly my favorite too. . . though it vies with "The Big Sleep" which has some great scenes (cannibalized from earlier short stories). Quote
Niko Posted November 14, 2008 Report Posted November 14, 2008 (edited) That's possibly my favorite too. . . though it vies with "The Big Sleep" which has some great scenes (cannibalized from earlier short stories). read those early stories recently, fascinating to see the same stuff puzzled together differently (thinking about it, this is one of two books i read in 2008... sad) Edited November 14, 2008 by Niko Quote
jazzbo Posted November 14, 2008 Report Posted November 14, 2008 Yes, it was interesting to see these story elements recast. Chandler often had "blocks" --- apparently like many authors he had severe issues validating what he wrote and plot elements were very hard for him to come up with. Somehow rewriting these scenes and incorporating them helped him move forward. As someone who has nothing BUT problems writing I can really relate! Quote
jlhoots Posted November 14, 2008 Report Posted November 14, 2008 Kent Meyers: The Work Of Wolves Quote
ejp626 Posted November 14, 2008 Report Posted November 14, 2008 The Melting Pot and Other Subversive Stories by Lynne Schwartz "What I Did for Love" is ... The best story in the collection so far. As it turns out, that was the only story in the collection I enjoyed. Oh well. I am trying to clear out my shelves (and will be giving away books soon for just the price of postage, so keep an eye peeled). This generally means I will read things with a high probability of disappointing me, since I read the books I am fairly sure I will enjoy right away. Currently am mostly through Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. It's an interesting way of getting transported into the world of Jacob Riis, and is certainly a corrective to Horatio Alger, though Crane goes too far the other way in coming up with hideous lumpen-proletariat figures. I do like his Civil War stories better, and though "A Mystery of Heroism" was not bad. Also, the library finally came up with a copy of "Oscar Wao," so that will be the next thing I read. Quote
Jazzmoose Posted November 14, 2008 Report Posted November 14, 2008 I am trying to clear out my shelves (and will be giving away books soon for just the price of postage, so keep an eye peeled). Is there a way to 'bookmark' a single post? Still on my 'neglected SF' kick; I've been reading some of Gordon R. Dickson's Dorsai novels. Good entertainment, I guess, but nothing special... Quote
BruceH Posted November 14, 2008 Report Posted November 14, 2008 I am trying to clear out my shelves (and will be giving away books soon for just the price of postage, so keep an eye peeled). Is there a way to 'bookmark' a single post? Still on my 'neglected SF' kick; I've been reading some of Gordon R. Dickson's Dorsai novels. Good entertainment, I guess, but nothing special... During my misspent youth I always somehow managed to put off reading Dickson's Dorsai novels. Now I probably never will. (Yet I had a good impression of Gordon R. Dickson as an SF writer...I must have read some of his novellas or stories somewhere along the way.) Quote
Jazzmoose Posted November 14, 2008 Report Posted November 14, 2008 Never say never; I'm just getting to them at fifty... Quote
BruceH Posted November 17, 2008 Report Posted November 17, 2008 Dipping into Alphabet Juice (by Roy Blount, Jr., my hero) again. "Sonicky" really should be adopted into the language. Quote
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted November 18, 2008 Report Posted November 18, 2008 Rudolf Binding 'A Fatalist At War' (1929) Quote
Van Basten II Posted November 20, 2008 Report Posted November 20, 2008 Finished this... IRVING BERLIN - As Thousands Cheer - By Laurence Bergreen Very interesting book that talk about an era and a style of music that i knew next to nothing about. Currently reading this Fascinating trilogy , your typical pageturner of a thriller that you can't leave it without knowing what is going to happen next Quote
ejp626 Posted November 20, 2008 Report Posted November 20, 2008 So I am halfway through Oscar Wao. On the whole I enjoy it, though I can see where Sal is coming from in terms of a lot of Dominican Republic history squeezed into the footnotes. The overall tone/approach reminds me of Vargas Llosa, but with footnotes inspired by David Foster Wallace (nowhere near as many, however). It's got a lot of kick, and I should be done by the weekend. One thing I don't like is the frequent use of spanglish. I'm never that fond of it, but if used sparingly and in ways that that the meaning is clear, I can accept it. If I need to try to go translate whole sentences which is the case from time to time, it annoys me. This was written for the US market, not targeted at bilingual readers. (One could say the same thing of Russian novels with large chunks of French in them, but when they were written virtually anyone who was literate enough to read also read French (not the case for today's US readers vis a vis Spanish). It does introduce dilemmas for today's translaters, however.) By the way, I saw the most amazing production of The Brothers Karamazov in Chicago. They (Lookingglass) seemed to capture everything important in just over 3 hours. By contrast, while I enjoyed it, large pieces of the plot are missing from Murakami's Kafka on the Shore in Steppenwolf's recent production. I suspect this is because Murakami's novel is far more plot and dialogue driven, while Dostoevsky (and Tolstoy) have long philosophical asides that are important but can be removed as far as plot. Quote
poetrylover3 Posted November 20, 2008 Report Posted November 20, 2008 The Best American Mystery Stories 2008. So who has time to prowl through monthly mystery magazines? These pieces are short and introduce me to good writers. I find myself revisiting previous years in the series as well, so the series holds up well, IMO. Peace, Blue Trane Quote
BruceH Posted November 21, 2008 Report Posted November 21, 2008 Finished this... IRVING BERLIN - As Thousands Cheer - By Laurence Bergreen Very interesting book that talk about an era and a style of music that i knew next to nothing about. I read that book when I was still living in Brookline, MA. I remember really liking it. Quote
Van Basten II Posted November 21, 2008 Report Posted November 21, 2008 Finished this... IRVING BERLIN - As Thousands Cheer - By Laurence Bergreen Very interesting book that talk about an era and a style of music that i knew next to nothing about. I read that book when I was still living in Brookline, MA. I remember really liking it. Yep the writer did a fine job of putting Berlin back to life and he did it in a straightforward and accessible way , a little like Berlin's composition, Quote
Guy Berger Posted November 23, 2008 Report Posted November 23, 2008 In the midst of reading: "Manias, Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises" (by Charles P. Kindleberger) - highly recommended. I only wish I had read this 18, 12 or even 3 months ago. "Essays on the Great Depression" (by Ben Bernanke) - Only started, but it's quite interesting. Probably too dry and academic for casual readers, but those with a solid grounding in economics may find it useful. I'd be interested in any recommendations for a more generalist but economically-literate history book on the Great Depression. "War and Peace" - about 2/3 of the way through. Quote
Jazzmoose Posted November 24, 2008 Report Posted November 24, 2008 I pulled out Turkel's Hard Times, not only because of his passing, but because I'm beginning to think I might need to learn from it! Quote
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