Oh Gad. Gad, Gad, Gad. My poor lawling. My cup runneth over with pity for you, and with glee that I’m not in that spot anymore.
SOLOMON –
Hate to post just to say “ha!” but don’t you hate it when you’re all witty and you suspect no one noticed? So: HA!
I’m very interested at the number of people who are reading old(er) stuff – either rereading favorites or reading classics for the first time. Do you think there’s a dearth of good new fiction out there at the moment? Is it the time of year ("'Tis the season to re-read stuff") or what? 'Cause I’ve been to Barnes & Noble and I’m not finding stuff I want to snatch up, which is unusual for me. Anyone else noticing that?
Just in case, if you haven’t heard of Winchester’s book, The Professor and the Madman - in the UK is was called The Surgeon of Crowthorne, you’ve gotta read it - it is a great history of the Oxford English Dictionary filtered through the relationship between the dictionary’s editor and one of the main contributors. I think it was one of the first of this new wave of non-fiction page turners that focus on specific events or people and the amazing things they did (e.g., Longitude, Cod, Mauve and a few other books of this ilk…)
Yeah, it was kinda funny. Right after I finished The Map, I noticed TPatM on my wife’s nightstand. She was reading it for a book club. Returned it to the library before I could get to it though.
[ul]
[li]Mapping The Human Genome For Dummies.[/li][li]Left Behind.[/li][li]Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Digusting Slippers.[/li][li]She’s Come Undone (Oprah told me it was worthwhile).[/li][li]A stack of Oui magazines I found in my grandfather’s basement. Talk about self-help![/li][/ul]
I couldn’t agree with you more, Jodi, concerning Mary Karr’s two books. It seems to me that a sequil to TLC should have been dyne-o-mite, but * Cherry * just didn’t do it for me.
Currently I’m about half through * Beach Music * by Pat Conroy. (* Prince of Tides*) I give it an Eight; it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it.
The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell. I have some mixed feelings about this book so…
SPOILERS!!!
I mean it!!!
My roommate loaned me the book, saying it was the best sci-fi he’d ever read. I found it heavy on character development and not as much on the sci-fi. But then I am a Stephenson addict.
Now here’s the spoilers, since Maria takes so god-awful long to get to the damn point: Sandoz is forced to eat the flesh of dead baby aliens, and gets brutally sodomized repeatedly by an alien lizard-thing. There, now you know.
I’m also having problems deciding if this book is pro-religious or not. If it is, I find its view of religion and god despicable.
Up next? Roommate wants me to read Harry Potter. I’d rather take it up to the mountains for target practice. I have a big long list of stuff to read. Maybe Arming America next, about how the popular myth of guns was placed into American culture. Or Digital Copyright by Jessica Litman. Or maybe George Carlin’s two books. Or possibly some Marquez. I dunno, I have a long list to choose from!
-Ben
[quote]
Now here’s the spoilers, since Maria takes so god-awful long to get to the damn point: Sandoz is forced to eat the flesh of dead baby aliens, and gets brutally sodomized repeatedly by an alien lizard-thing.
Is barking good or bad?
I just saw where Le carre’s Constant Gardner is out in paperback. I will definitely get it as I loved his one on Panama–found myself articulating Englishisms all the time.
Finished Theroux’s book on Naipaul–hilarious portrait. Besides that, I am in and out of about 15 different history books at a time.
Very cool! Usually people who read horror are only familiar with King, Koontz and Rice. There’s a whole new wave of horror writers working their way up. Some of them are extremely talented. You just gotta know where to find them.
Even better that you’ve heard of Brian Keene. He hasn’t broken out of the small press yet, but he’s on the verge.
Email me if you ever feel like talking about this stuff!
Currently Im on a intergalactic cruise, in my bedroom and am reading The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide. I cant get enough of this all 5 Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy and 1 bonus story about Zaphod Beeblebrox all in one massive hardcover exstravaganza! Woohoo! After I finish this crazy ride Im gonna switch over to Black Hawk Down. Cheers!
I got this book from a remainder table at B&N for SEVEN DOLLARS!! I could’nt believe my luck.
P.S. Dontcha thing that bonus story was a little dissapointing?
I’m not familiar with that one – must be one of his last books (de Camp died recently, unfortunately). He was an amazing author, unjustly neglected – an associate of Isaac Asimov, and like him a writer in diverse fields. He was one of the classic authors of sf/fantasy in the 1940s (and co-author, with his wife, of the superb Science Fiction Writer’s Handbook.) He turned to historical fiction, which unfortunately was not noticed enough to bring him the acclaim he deserved (An Elephant for Aristotle, The Bronze God of Rhodes, and a lot of others). He wrote science an history books (The Ancient Engineers, Lost Continents are classics. His The Great Monkey Trial is the best book I’ve read about the Scopes trial. Great Cities of the Ancient Worldis a wonderful I’d never even heard of until I stumbled across a copy in a used book shop.) But he’s best known for his fantasy and SF. He’s probably written more stories about Conan the Barbarian than anyone else, except possibly Robert E. Howard. His story “A Gun for Dinosaur” is a classic, and was later expanded into the book Rivers of Time. He also wrote the classic Lest Darkness Fall and The Glory that was. He wrote wonderful fantasies set in worlds invented by ohers – the “Compleat Enchanter” series with Fletcher Pratt, The Carnelian Cube, Tales from Gavaghns Bar. A book about a considerate Barbarian would be right up his alley.
