The Rifle in America by Phil Sharpe
A Devil of a Whipping: The Battle of Cowpens by Lawrence E. Babits
And, on a more intellectual level,
Listen, You Pencil-Necked Geeks by Classy Freddie Blassie
Finishing up “The Confusion” by Neal Stephenson before i go buy the last in the trilogy. I still have 100 pages or so left.
The Other by Thomas Tryon.
Enjoying it, but still waiting for the story to accelerate into the “whirlpool of oh-my-God horror” Ira Levin so subtly describes it as on the inside cover.
Currently on my nightstand in various stages of completion:
A Handbook of the Troubadours, edited by F. R. P. Akehurst
Medieval Cities, Henri Pirenne
Chasing the Heretics: A Modern Journey Through the Medieval Languedoc, Rion Klawinski. This was enjoyable light reading; half a modern travelouge, half a descriptive narrative of the Albigensian Crusade.
Oh, and Bloom County Babylon : Five Years of Basic Naughtiness, Berkeley Breathed.
I’m currently reading Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey. I like it mainly. But I’ve read that Kesey was discovering LSD in a big way at the same time he wrote this. it certainly shows.
Before that, I read Robert Fagles’ translation of the Odyssey which was a disappointing drag. While I understand that there is some value in an absolutely literal line-by-line translation of the ancient epic classics, the book was distinctly unpoetic and dreary. (And for a work that is renoun as one of the great adventure stories of all time, there is a remarkable amount of tedious filler scenes within it.)
Also read recently, Autumn of the Patriarch, A Monk Swimming, and re-read Hero with a Thousand Faces.
Just finished Better OFF by Eric Brende (about living without electricty in an Amish-like community for 18 months), and started today on My Dream of You by Nuala O’Faolain. The first was a real eye-opener without being preachy or negative. Only 60 pages into the second one but it’s already an excellent read.
Kesey was already well involved with LSD by the time he wrote SAGN.
He had participated in LSD experiements sponsored by the Federal government as a graudate student at Stanford. The experience captivated him and he began to experiment with the drug (and others) on his own and as part of a loose group of friends that evolved into the Merry Pranksters. It was during this time that he wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
He started SAGN after the success of OFOTCN, and when he and the Merry Pranksters went on their great trip across America on the bus, “FURTHER.”
Theodore Rex. I had just finished The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, and I was planning on taking a break from him, but I just *had * to see what happens next!
I’ve just started Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (I’m having a hell of a time remembering the title, because in my head I keep thinking of it as The Strange Case of Dr. Norrell and Jonathan). So far it’s worth the long wait in the library’s “hold” queue to get it, but I am finding myself ruffled by Susanna Clarke habit of addressing the reader (in the second person) rather often. However, I think I have figured out why she’s doing this, and if I’m right, then I totally understand.
I just finished Which Lie Did I Tell? More Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman. I haven’t read the first book, but this one was either really great, or really dumb, depending on whether I’m very smart for having already worked out most of the Great Truths he talks about, or if everyone has already, and he just wrote four hundred pages that didn’t say anything. Also, I don’t see how the original screenplay included could ever work as presented. But that might just be because I hated Echo and the kids, so I don’t really want them to work.
I’m also reading the collected fiction of Jorge Luis Borges. Intermittently. But not really on purpose. Which means whenever I pass by the table it’s on, I compulsively pick it up and read exactly one story no matter how long or short it is, but when I decide to just read the book and start toting it around, I never get time for it.
I’m about 2/3 through Moby Dick, which I half skimmed in college. I never realized it was so damn funny. I’m really enjoying it.
I’m reading Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet. I wasn’t sure if I’d like it, but it’s rather funny & fast-paced. I looove the setting. And the protagonist Nancy Astley is a trip.
I love anything with a 1890-1950 setting, I guess what are more “recent historicals”.
When my Amazon order comes in I’ll be reading Mary Janice Davidson’s Chick Lit/Vamp Undead series.
The Doomsday Book by Connie Wills. It’s pretty good. The medieval scenes are fascinating, though the future stuff is kind of boring.
James Ellroy’s Destination: Morgue! is on deck. I’m dying to start it, but I’m sticking to my new rule that says I MUST finish one book before starting another, unless it’s absolutely, irredeemibly horrible (Vince Flynn, I’m looking in your direction).
I recently read Ahab’s Wife or, the Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund. OK, OK, I know it sounds like Chick Lit, but bear with me. The book is inspired by a biref passage in Moby-Dick where “Captain Ahab speaks passionately of his young wife on Nantucket.” Ahab himself is somewhat incidental to his wife’s memoirs. I found the characters fascinating and the story itself to be melancholy without drifting into maudlin tear-jerker territory.
I’m reading A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman. I picked it up at the same time that I got The Doomsday Book (Which, is awesome, awesome, awesome, Kaspar! Enjoy!)
I tried to read it before, and lost interest, but I picked it up again when I was recovering from a cold this week, and managed to get past the first chapter, which is terribly boring, and now I’m really enjoying it. Why Tuchman decided to lead off with such a painfully dry chapter before launching into a lively and interesting book, I do not understand.
I got stuck on that first chapter, too and just shoved the whole book into one of my stacks. Thanks for letting me know it gets better - I’m going to try again!
I’m in the middle of Andrew Greeley’s “The Bishop and the Beggar Girl of St Germain”, I think that’s the title, after just finishing his “Priestly Sins”. Greeley has a particular style which I grow tired of after a while, but he writes a good straightforward story and I keep going back for more, eventually. And I’m also reading “The Church That Forgot Christ” by Jimmy Breslin. That one isn’t quite as interesting as I’d hoped, but it’s still a good book. And, according to beliefnet.com, I am not really “Catholic” anymore, but a “recovering Catholic”. So there. So there.
Oooooooo! OOOOOOOO!
I saw that these were just out.
Is this the right one to buy? Are they in different volumes? I heard the VOL. I included “Travel Tales of Mr. Joseph Jorkens” and “Jorkens Remembers Africa,” but THIS one looks like like it’s a complete edition! HOW are they publishing these?
Lemme know, lemme know!
– Uke, Jorkens buff
I just finished Eats, Shoots & Leaves.
I am 2/3 through rereading Skinny Legs and All.
I’v just started rereading The Princess Bride.
Krakatoa : The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883
by Simon Winchester
I’ve never even heard of the Jorkens, but if it excites Uke, it’s gotta be good.
I googled “Jorkens”, and it appears that Nightshade books is publishing a 3-volume set.
Shocklines has them at a slightly lower price than Amazon or Nightshade, and they also have the slipcase for the 3 books. www.shocklines.com
Are these sorta like Manly Wade Wellman’s stories, cuz I really like those. ??