It's Time for Another "Whatcha Readin'?" Thread!

I just finished All Dressed in White: The Irresistable Rise of the American Wedding, which I really enjoyed. It’s a fun read: sort of a pop history of how American wedding customs have changed over the last two hundred years and how the industry has steered those changes.

Before that, I read Pope Joan a fictionalized version of the controversial legend. I liked it-- not the best book I have ever read, but one I’ll most likely read again.

I’ve recently started The Victorian Celebration of Death which, unfortunately, I’m not enjoying much. For such a fascinatingly morbid subject, this book is very dry, and doesn’t delve into the social/etiquette/ceremonial aspects as much as I’d like. (It has three large chapters about the foundings of various cemetaries and the monuments within, but only one on the rich subject of mourning jewelery, and mourning.)

So, folks, whatcha readin’? Got any recommendations for an eclectic reader?

Well, my summer reading list includes all of Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander books, Ringworld Children by Larry Niven, Island by Thomas Perry, and a rereading of the works of Tim Cahill. That should keep me busy through June…

Just finished The Face of Stranger by Anne Perry. The first of the William Monk mystery novels set in Victorian England.

I will now pick back up Dante’s Inferno as translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I’m not enjoying it, but it’s this month’s book club book, so I’m trying.

I’m most satisfied when I have several books at hand, each for a different time of day or a different mood I might be in. The three books I have open now are:

Will Durant, *The Story of Civilization: Volume 1, Our Oriental Heritage *. No novel could be as interesting as history, as far as I’m concerned. This volume begins with Ancient Egypt, and moves eastward across Asia, ending in China and Japan. I hope to make it through the whole series; I’ve already read Volume 2 on Ancient Greece, and at least half of the volume The Age of Reason Begins. Durant’s warm humanism makes this a graceful read.

Ray Bradbury, A Graveyard for Lunatics. This semi-autobiographical mystery novel is set in a Hollywood studio in 1955, and encapsulates Bradbury’s experience working in the movies, and his love for movies themselves. I picked it up because I was feeling guilty that although Bradbury is my favorite living fiction author, I hadn’t read any fiction he has written in the last 30 years. The plot here is just OK, but the memoir aspects make it worth the read. This is actually his second Los Angeles-based mystery novel; I hear the first is better.

Harold Bloom (ed.), The Best Poems of the English Language. Just published. Bloom’s love of literature, especially poetry, is infectious. I came to know of Bloom through author Camille Paglia; Bloom was her doctoral advisor at Yale, and she has spoken reverently of him since then. His favorite poets are Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Milton; favorite American poets are Whitman and Dickinson. He dislikes T.S. Eliot and Poe! Although even from them he finds palatable works to include. Most interesting discovery I’ve made here has been Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market, an often lurid allegory about Victorian-era sexuality.

I have a couple of books on the go at the moment.

I’m reading *Bleak House * by Charles Dickens. My university lecturer for one of my current subjects (Property in Law & Equity) has recommended it for its insight into the painfully slow workings of the 19th century courts of equity in the UK.

I’ve also just bought a translation into Latin of the first Harry Potter book - Harrius Potter et Lapis Philosophi. It’s slow going, but amusing too.

Snap. I too am struggling through a Harry Potter translation (Harry Potter e la Camera de Segretti) to keep my Italian up amongst the confusion of Portuguese.

Also got some history on the go, Niall Ferguson’s “Colossus”, posulating that America is the new world Empire and should accept the obligations and consequences, and examines the paradoxical reality of American power. Do agree with him so far but you have to know what the enemy are thinking… :wink:

Being a history buff I am also reading Peter Padfield’s “Maritime Supremacy” series (well two of three projected) which I heartily recommend - a mixture of the history of modern economics, politics and philosophy as much a wafare. Must be one of the leading historians currently writing for the “popular” reader (probably not **that ** popular!).

Next is to be “The Masterpieces of Shirley Jackson” a short story horror/mystery collection of an author I have never read - a birthday present. Any good , anyone know? Not a genre I ever read…

South, by Ernest Shackleton, the personal account of the survival of the crew of the ship Endurance in its quest to cross Antarctica. A truly amazing story of determination and courage.

I’m reading a book about Buddhaism and I’m reading a mind-candy series about a supernatural private detective by Simon R. Green, Tales From the Nightside.

Currently reading: War Paint, a dual biography of Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein. Interesting, but a bit dry and over-long at points.

On deck: Chrisopher Morley’s Where the Blue Begins (1922). Morley never lets me down.

I just read The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenger. It’s about a woman married to a guy who time travels unexpectedly. It made me cry, which is rare.

I’m looking forward to Song of Susannah, book six in the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. (comes out today!)

Last summer I got hooked on Randy Wayne White’s mysteries and read them all. I’ve got a hold on his newest one Tampa Burn at the library.

This summer I have a similar fixation on books by Carl Hiaasen. Ever since I read Hoot, his Newbery Honor book. I’m now reading Sick Puppy and really enjoying it.

A Secret History, the Book of Ash volume 1 by Mary Gentle
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

I’m cribbing this from my very own book journal, because I was so impressed with this recent read:

An African In Greenland, by Tete-Michel Kpomassie. Oh my gosh, this book rocked! See, it’s a memoir by this guy who is a West African person, living in Togo, in the 1950s. A teenager, he and his family live somewhat traditionally. So one day he’s out gathering coconuts and gets attacked by a snake, after which he’s taken to the tribal elders, who are priests in a python cult, to be healed. The elder, who is very pleased with the healing process, decided that this is an omen that this guy should become a member of the python cult, which is like a lifetime gig. Michel, our narrator, is all “Snake handling? Um, thanks for thinking of me, but that’s terrifying and creepy.” Instead, after reading a book about Eskimo culture, he decides that he wants to go to Greenland and live with the Eskimos, and so he does. It takes him YEARS to work his way out of Africa and through Europe, yet he finally arrives in Greenland and lives there for about a year in the far north, living with native families and learning all about eating raw fish and seal hunting and dog sleds.

The best thing about this book is that it isn’t trying to be all ethnographic or scientific or anything. It’s really just a guy who wrote down his story about “This one time, when I decided to up and leave Togo and move to Greenland …” He doesn’t attempt to make a lot of profound conclusions about the culture of the eskimos or his role as Outsider or anything like that. It’s fairly straightforward observations of stuff that went on during his trip, and he’s not shy about pointing out things that he doesn’t like, or confuse him, and also about clarifying things that he initially was surprised by but later make sense as he learns more about surviving in the Greenland environment. His experiences with the arctic winter are especially interesting:

“On clear days the moon gave us light from five in the afternoon, hanging very low in the sky and looking so extraordinarily large that it really frightened me the first time I saw it. It rose over Disko Island, but if you were coming from the other end of Jakobshavn, it seemed to be squatting on the rooftops in front of you, its crumpled silver-paper face splotched with gray. The play of moonlight on the icebergs was indescribably strange, and its magnificent refracted shimmers were brighter than day. One night, fooled by its brilliance, I got up at three in the morning. I soon realized my mistake, but the “day” was so beautiful that I went walking for half an hour in the sleeping village. As it’s seven thirty in the morning in Paris when it’s three thirty in the morning in Greenland, I thought, in my calm and silent world, of all those Parisians with their steaming breath, now pouring into the Metro. I thought too, about what a fine sunny day it must be back home in Africa.”

I’m also looking forward to Song of Susanna, can’t wait to read and discuss it with my fellow DT obsessed Dopers!

I’ve been on a serious crossword puzzle binge (I only like difficult, themed puzzles), so most of my few spare moments are spent on crosswords. However, I am currently re-reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

When I was at Half-Price Books a couple of weeks ago, I saw a rack of old pulp novels from the 40s-60s. I picked up one called Seven Footprints to Satan; the blurb on the back was hysterically funny, so I had to buy the book. It was actually entertaining, in a horrible funny freaky sort of way. I’d recommend it. I think. :dubious:

I’m currently reading Shopaholic Takes Manhatten by Sophie Kinsella (very funny) and Our Lady of the Forest by David Guterson (more on the serious side).

When you read two books at the same time, it helps if they’re kinda different.

Just finished Roman Blood by Steven Saylor which is a murder mystery set in Roman times. I’ve been reading this series, in the wrong order, and really enjoy the feeling of being somewhere (and somewhen) else completely. They’re real page turners.

Next on my list is a book by John Banville, who’s always good but not always an easy read. I like to vary between easier ( though not necessarily less intelligent) novels and novels which are more of a challenge.

I’ve been reading Donald Westlake’s Dortmunder novels recently, and am highly amused by them; right now, however, I’m a third of the way through The Count of Monte Cristo. much fun!

Daniel

Lucifer’s Hammer, by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven. Comet wipes out civilization.

I’d almost forgotten how good SF can be. :slight_smile:

Now I remember why I don’t like end-of-the-world stories :frowning:

But I had to read it, didn’t I? :smack:

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers , by Mary Roach. A very entertaining read about the 1001 ways that human cadavers are advancing science. Plus, everything you always wanted to know about embalming but were afraid to ask.

The Man Who Knew Too Much by Dick Russell
Conspiracy by Anthony Summers
Accessories After the Fact by Sylvia Meagher

(Can’t get enuff / of dat grassy knoll stuff. . .)