See, my take on that book was he thumbed through some Oprah Book Club picks and said “oh please, anyone could churn this crap out” so he did, and that’s what it felt like to me. (I actually like a lot of the “Oprah” books, but they all have a certain feel to them.)
For my money the best Grisham book is The Rainmaker. It’s really comical and the movie really didn’t do it justice. (Interestingly a friend of mine saw an early test screening of the movie and loved it. Later when it was released he saw it and told me it was completely different – they’d taken out all the funny stuff to make it more “Grisham-like!”) Boo to Hollywood, as usual!
A complete collection of Hemingway’s short stories, and (this seems to be a popular choice lately) The Alienist. I haven’t read far enough to recommend it to anyone else (only 50 pages in), but it seems good so far. And of course Hemingway can do no wrong.
I also recently read Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep. To be honest I always thought he was just a pulp writer, but I was (very) pleasantly surprised by the quality of his prose (the story was top-notch too). Just before that I read The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte. That movie “The Ninth Gate” was based on this book, but please don’t let that stop you from checking it out. The movie ditched the entire Dumas/Three Musketeers story-line (something like half the bloody book) not to mention the best parts. So go read it.
JessEnigma and Jeff, our books have a connection. I am reading Shakespeare & Co. by Sylvia Beach. She owned a bookstore in Paris where the Lost Generation used to hang out. I first read about it in A Moveable Feast by Hemingway. Sylvia Beach published James Joyce’s Ulysses.
Just a couple of weeks ago, at the suggestion of Davebear and a couple of other Dopers, I read Perfume. It is so creepy and fascinating!
I’ve finished a small stack that had been sitting on the bedside table. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scot. Turned out to be a much better read than I expected. How the Scots Invented the Modern World by Arthur Herman. Dry as hell for the first few chapters but it gets more interesting as he moves into Adan Smith and company. Our Religions: The Seven World Religions … Edited by Arvind Sharma. Really interesting coverage of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Conquistador by S. M. Stirling. In 1946, a soldier in Oakland, just returned from the Pacific, accidently creates a gate into a parallel world where the Old World has not yet reached the Western Hemisphere. He and some of his army buddies decide to keep things a secret. Most of the story takes place in 2009, with flashbacks to important happenings in the history of the Commonwealth of New Virginia. Lots of fun so far.
Cartoon History of The Universe III by Larry Gonick. The third collection of this series. A very interesting look at history.
Races of Faerun by various writers. A gaming sourcebook that explores the history of both the various fantasy races and the differing human cultures of the Forgotten Realms campaign world. Very world specific, but could be adapted to a different world.
fiddlesticks, I just finished drop city. It’s neat that someone else on here wants to read that. I wont spoil it for you, but it’s fair. I wouldn’t read it twice, but it’s worth one time around…
I’m rereading my Ferrol Sams books. He grew up in rural Georgia in the 1930-40’s, and his books, for the most part, are set in that time period. His fiction is beautiful. If you are interested, start with these:
Run With the Horseman
The Whisper of the River
When All the World Was Young
Sorry this is a bit late (I usually don’t check the boards over the weekend). The term “Social Capital” as used by the book is roughly to describe the richness of our social networks individually and as members of society and their very tangible effects. In other words, a person with few social connections in their life (few work place acquaintances, does not go to church, does not, or rarely, participates in a club, etc. ) is “poor” in social capital while someone who is active in many organizations or who has many acquaintances might be “rich” social capital wise. Putnam’s book documents a trend over the past 4 decades showing that Americans as a whole trust other people less, donate to charity less as a percentage of their income, participate in community projects less, vote less, and a whole host of other community based activities. He argues (convincingly IMHO) that these things are a direct result of American’s continuing tendencies to prefer less and fewer associations. He shows this by reporting study data which covers territory across a broad spectrum, from membership in various community groups, to bridge clubs, to sports fan’s to dinner parties. Good reading.
Thanks, grim! I was guessing it was something along those lines, but the advantage of anonymity is the anonymity to ask dumb questions! I think I’ve heard of this guy’s work – you’re right, it sounds fascinating.
I finished the Powers book, which was really good - I’ll recommend it to everyone. Next, I’ll start The Son of the Shadows, by Marillier, which is a sequel to the book I read before the Powers one.
I assume you’re referring to the Jerome K. Jerome classic? If so, you should branch out into some P.G. Wodehouse, if you haven’t read any of his books. Very similar style, and at least as funny. Well, most of them. He was incredibly prolific, and some are better than others, but they’re all good.
And, I’d second the nomination of Caleb Carr’s The Alienist, and add his The Angel of Darkness. Both are extremely well-written.
I am plugging through the Lord of the Rings books. I managed to get through The Hobbit, and now I am trying desperately to hang on through the first installment.
I’m about halfway through this one – Pat Barker is just awesome. Maybe you could come back to this thread (or start another one) and say what you thought of it.
Anything of Barker’s is just wonderful. Painful and raw, sometimes – she doesn’t gloss over anything.
Michele in So Cal - Another Davies fan, cool. Glad I’m not the only one. I swear, I’d have read him sooner if not for those awful covers.
