I’m currently reading both Titus Andronicus and Deerskinbecause, apparently, I hate myself.
Titus Andronius is a hoot. Better as a live performance, I admit.
It made one hell of a movie, that’s for sure.
Finished The Go-Between, which I decided to read after hearing the first line: “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” Nice thick prose recounting the incidents of a long-ago summer in the life of an English family…delightful.
Next up, The Kestrel Waters: a tale of love and devil, by Randy Thornhorn. This one won’t be nearly as sedate.
Finished Lawrence in Arabia on audio, started the audio version of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (which I’ve just finished reading in The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft)
Read Daniel Kimmel’s Jar Jar Binks Must Die!
Now reading Jerome K. Jerome’s Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow.
I finished The Closers by Michael Connelly today. Each book just gets better and better in my opinion.
Up next looks like The Apothecary Rose by Candace Robb, so from 2005 LA to 1363 England.
Ascending MountToBeRead - I picked up my copy of The Worlds of Fritz Leiber and enjoyed a few hours in its company.
I’ve encountered Fritz Leiber in many SF anthologies and generally enjoy his writing. I don’t remember where I picked up this paperback, but it’s a nice addition to my collection overall.
I find Leiber to be a bridge between the Golden Age and the New Wave, leaning perhaps more towards the former (a point in his favor in my book). This collection seems to be a good overview of his work - it includes a Fafhrd & The Grey Mouser story and Doctor Dragonet appears in 2 stories. I particularly liked “Our Saucer Vacation”, “The Girl with Five Husbands” and “Catch that Zeppelin”. The last 2 stories feature characters becoming “unstuck in time”, a theme of several of his short stories. There’s some nice touches of humor, but he can go dark as well.
There are elements that feel a bit dated, but I’ve come to expect that – writers can’t help but bring elements of their own here and now into their work, I think - no matter when it is set. It’s even harder to project societal expectations into the future; we at least have ample examples of human behavior from the past.
Recommended to readers of late Golden Age SF - it’s a collection I’ll probably revisit from time to time.
I’m not familiar with that collection, or those particular stories, although I’ve read some Leiber.
If you like that collection, let me recommend the Best of Fritz Leiber, part of Ballantine/Del Rey’s “Best of…” series from the 1970s.
https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrB8pFhWcJUxHQA6S.JzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTIyNGlqbnA2BHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1nBG9pZAMxMmUyOTEyMmFkYWFiMjUxYjM3MDRkYjFmMzE3ZmM0OARncG9zAzEEaXQDYmluZw--?.origin=&back=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3F_adv_prop%3Dimage%26va%3D%2522The%2BBest%2Bof%2BFritz%2BLeiber%2522%26fr%3Dyfp-t-901%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D1&w=750&h=1269&imgurl=www.blackgate.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F08%2FThe-Best-of-Fritz-Leiber.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blackgate.com%2F2013%2F08%2F21%2Fvintage-treasures-the-best-of-fritz-leiber%2F&size=967.5KB&name=Vintage+Treasures%3A+<b>The+Best+of+Fritz+Leiber<%2Fb>&p=“The+Best+of+Fritz+Leiber”&oid=12e29122adaab251b3704db1f317fc48&fr2=&fr=yfp-t-901&tt=Vintage+Treasures%3A+<b>The+Best+of+Fritz+Leiber<%2Fb>&b=0&ni=288&no=1&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=12ffe3k38&sigb=13tfei4m0&sigi=129rgsv55&sigt=11ip6bv86&sign=11ip6bv86&.crumb=iFnxBO8CwGG&fr=yfp-t-901
There doesn’t seem to be much overlap between your book and this one.
It’s too bad the series ended, and that few volumes have been reprinted in recent years. Since 1990, the Lester Del Rey collection was reprinted, and so was the Henry Kuttner volume. The latter was retitled The Last Mimzy to tie in with the release of the movie of that title (based on Kuttner and Moore’s “Mimsy were the Borogoves”). You’d think that they would have reprinted The Best of Philip K. Dick as a movie tie-in because of all the movies nominally based on his stories (such as “Paycheck”, which is in the collection), but they didn’t.
Three Nights in Havana - Pierre Trudeau, Fidel Castro and the Cold War World, Robert Wright. Very interesting history of Canada’s friendly relationship with Cuba, despite America’s pressure to join in with trade embargoes and the like.
I finished the above, it was perfectly pleasant.
I also read Where’d You Go, Bernadette? on the recommendation of a friend, and I was very hesitant about it at first because the plot seemed dumb and pointless (a teenager tracks down information about her mother’s disappearance, and it’s kind of slapstick) but it was surprisingly well written. So it was like a book in a genre I don’t care for, written in a way that I found very impressive.
I just finished a small (150 pages) book called* Boggs* about a man by that name who is an artist whose specialty is reproducing paper currency, much to the displeasure of the US Treasury and the Bank of England. A delightful book which raises questions about the relationship between money (did you know the word money comes from the Latin word for warning? Well, I didn’t.) and art and asks just what the hell does"reproduction" mean, anyway?
I finished reading A Passage to India and it was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. It had a good mix of sad and funny and thoughtful parts. I also thought it matched my view of life as a big muddle where the best you can do is try not to screw up too much.
Can I play too?
I should have been contributing to this thread for the past couple of years, since you guys give me most of my reading recommendations. I love the mini-reviews that you give, too. Those, and the rest of your lists, help me guess whether I would like something or not. I haven’t been posting because it seems a little incestuous, since most of my list comes from this thread. But anyway…
Just finished rereading* Letters from a Woman Homesteader*, Elinore Pruitt Stewart. Series of lightly edited letters from 1910 or so, from a Denver laundress and young widow who took her small daughter with her to Wyoming. Full of stories about the colorful local characters on the prairie, written to a friend back in Denver.
Also keeping Life with Jeeves (PG Wodehouse) in the bathroom. Always time for one chapter! Always funny.
Still have the first volume of the Autobiography of Mark Twain on the nightstand, where it’s been for a long time. Books sit on top of it and fly back to the library, but that one is just a TOME. And the print is tiny. And it’s annotated all to hell and back. The stories themselves are fun, though. One day I’ll start tackling it again.
Just finished The Hangman’s Daughter, by Oliver Pötsch. Pretty good story, great background about life in 17th century Bavaria, but I got a little annoyed by the writing (translation?) sometimes, and especially the coy little scenes with the bad guys, where the narrator slyly avoids telling you who’s speaking. Also I don’t really dig reading details about torture. To each his own, I guess.
Next- I have a list, so I’ll hit up the used bookstore and library today or tomorrow. I’m planning to move soonish (a job would be nice first), and most of my books are packed up. Aw. I was going to reread Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell when I saw that BBC America was making a miniseries out of it, but who knows which box it’s in.
So far this month I’ve read three books. The first was The Shadowy Horses by Suzanna Kearsley. Set in Scotland, it concerns a mystery surrounding the ancient Roman archeological dig and a psychic young boy who can see and talk to one of the soldiers who died there. Though I have a few nitpicks, I quite enjoyed the writing and interaction of the characters.
The second book was Airborn by Kenneth Oppel. An excellent, fast-paced read set aboard a luxury airship and a desert island, the main character helps a young passenger solve the mystery of the beautiful flying creatures her grandfather had written about in his journal before he died. I can see this as a good book for a teenager who doesn’t like to read much because the writing and the imagery are so strong. But then, that makes it a great read for anyone else, too. I’m going to se if the library carries more books by this author.
The third book is Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris. Funny and insightful essays about his travels and relationships. Plus a few odd bits with fictional characters in them. I’ve always enjoyed listening to David Sedaris on NPR and this is my favorite book of his so far.
Now I’m reading the novella, The King’s Guard by Rae Carson. It’s a prequel concerning one of the characters in her A Girl of Fire and Thorns series, which I haven’t read yet. Based on this story, I’m not sure if I will. I’m not too much into the In-Days-of-Old-When-Knights-Were-Bold genre anyway but I’m sure there are plenty of folks who are.
I am about halfway through The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Ran Away. Catchy title, no? The protagonist is a very spry centenarian who decides he has had it with the old folks’ home he is stuck in and slips out. He meets other adventurers, plus some nasty but not terribly bright criminals, two of which meet unpleasant deaths. One is stuck all night in a frozen food locker and the other is squashed by an elephant. Yes, an elephant. In Sweden.
Anyone who thinks Swedes have no sense of humor should check this one out. I think he has done for Sweden what Carl Hiaasen did for south Florida.
My Shakespeare read-a-thon has brought me to The Taming of the Shrew, or as I like to call it, Abuse Your Spouse for Fun and Profit!
My big question is what happened with Chris Sly and the other people at the beginning who were supposedly watching this play from the balcony? I’m guessing Kate’s final speech sucked them all into a black hole, so mightily did it suck.
Next up is* Richard III*. I’m bringing some extra horseshoe nails.
Theobroma - I get many of my suggestions from these threads as well - so I’ll join you in the semi-incestuous book lovin’ (watch out for paper cuts!)
My Jan 2015 Amazon Prime Kindle Lending Library choice was The Lost Tribe of Coney Island: Headhunters, Luna Park, and the Man Who Pulled Off the Spectacle of the Century by Claire Prentice. It was a fascinating look at a (thankfully) bygone age, when people from “primitive” cultures were considered suitable fodder for a carnival. We follow Dr. Truman K. Hunt on a journey from a kind benefactor to money-grubbing slave holder. After living with the Igorrote tribespeople from the Phillipines for quite some time, he offered to bring about 30 of them to America in 1905, explaining how they could earn more money for their families in a year than they would normally see in a lifetime.
This adventure, which started off relatively well, ended in squalor and shame. The tribe was encouraged (practically forced) to show their savage side; indulging in dog meat feasts (animal lover trigger) on a daily basis, when it is normally a rare ritual. Their traditional living quarters were not well-suited to the New Jersey climate, and it’s not surprising that several of the Igorrotes perished during their “visit”.
Prentice has done her research; and the writing is very engaging. There is some extrapolation and conjecture (and perhaps downright fiction) woven throughout, but I think the scholarship is reasonably evident, and there is a notes and bibliography section.
As you’d expect, the culture clash theme is very strong, but the storytelling keeps it from becoming a diatribe. I feel as if I got to know Dr. Hunt, as well as his main interpreter, Julio Balinag and the tribespeople. While I’m not sure if I’ll revisit this book again, I would like to learn more about Luna Park and the overall amusement park “wars” of the turn of the 20th century, as this book was more focused on this particular exhibition.
I’m going to be reading 11/22/63 for a long, long (long) time, but I just want to ask if anyone has read Neil Patrick Harris’s Choose Your Own Autobiography via an e-reader? Does the format work electronically? I imagine that Amazon wouldn’t offer a Kindle version if it didn’t, but I want to ask before I forget (again). 
I finished The Hole in the Zero by M. K. Joseph, which I thought was very good. It didn’t go at all where I thought it might, but that’s 60s sf for you!
Now I’m reading Marshland: Dreams and Nightmares on the Edge of London by Gareth Rees. It’s a collection of local history pieces, with folklore, horror and generally weird fiction thrown in. Also various illustrations and the odd short comic strip by Ada Jusic. Curious and interesting.
M. John Harrison recommended it on his twitter feed.