Rereading Les Miserables, for the first time in forever. It’s still REALLY wordy, but maaaan…
NOW I get where the “something fell” reference comes from.
Very happy!
How about insane then? There’s no good reason to forget the punctuation. Unless you’re writing for the government and you want to confuse people.
Happy birthday, Sampiro!
Can I stick a minor hijack in here that doesn’t deserve its own thread? I’m listening to George Guidall’s reading of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, and at one point, the main character orders a pasty in a diner (some kind of meat pie). Now, any time I’ve run across this word before, I thought it was pronounced pay-stee, same as the things a stripper wears. But George is saying past-ee. Can anyone tell me which is correct?
I finished Peter and the Secret of Rundoon. I think it was the best of the series. Now I’m on to Money for Nothing: One Man’s Journey Through the Dark Side of Lottery Millions, by Edward Ugel. The author is not a lottery winner, but a man who worked for a firm that offered lottery winners lump sum payments.
I’m doing a second read-through of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.
The Turn of Screw-This might just be the most boring book on earth, but I’m trying to get through it, and get at least some appreciation for it.
The Girls who Went Away- This was recommended in another edition of this thread. An interesting read.
I think it can work sometimes, if used sparingly, maybe. Or by a very, very good writer - like Virginia Woolf (some of her stuff anyway). But for the most part it just annoys me because it comes off as gimmicky and tends to distract from the content.
Anyway, I’ve put that damn book away for the moment and am currently reading Little Red Riding Hood: A Casebook for a class I’m teaching.
**The Grass Crown **by Colleen McCullough. She wasn’t going to write about Antony and Cleopatra, then she realized she needed to, and I need the entire Ancient Rome world fresh in my mind before I get the new book.
I’m finishing up “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd. I’ve enjoyed it so far.
Next up is “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini. I live in a very small town and the son of a former library board member has donated 60 copies of this book to be distributed to people in the community in memory of his parents. Then next month there’s going to be a group discussion of the book. I’m going to pick up my copy this afternoon.
After pronouncing it the first way, I was told that the second was correct.
I’m currently alternating between The Lord of the Rings and The Corner by David Simon and Ed Burns. I just finished Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and am starting to rewatch season 3 of The Wire. It’s been a very David Simon couple of weeks.
Well, from your location, it looks like you should know. 
Either way, I think meat pie sounds more appetizing. Thanks!
This absolutely blew my mind, because I could not imagine anyone not knowing what a pasty was, since they seem to pop up on the SDMB fairly often. I feel like I’m in some sort of meat pie cult now. The greasy horror.
Pasty rhymes with nasty, but they are anything but. They’re made with alternating layers of meat, potatoes, onions and sometimes rutabaga or turnip in a sturdy pastry crust. You can put just about anything in them, since they sort of started out as the Cornish version of taking leftovers from dinner to work the next day.
Right now, I’m reading The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, The Mill on the River Floss by George Eliott and selected portions of Hard Times by Charles Dickens. I’m reading The Mayor of Casterbridge in the vain hope of somehow understanding how the corn market functioned in mid-19th century England, but so far I’m just cursing Michael Henchard for being an ass, and wanting Donald Farfrae to get his shit together and marry Elizabeth-Jane already.
As a shot in the dark, does anybody have a readable book to recommend on corn laws and their impact on the various levels of society in British history? I’m not sure such a thing exists.
Have you reached the part where they dress the sailor up in the whale’s penis sheath? The chapter’s called “The Cassock”, I believe. Most bizarre and funniest part of the book, I thought.
As for The Canterbury Tales, I really enjoyed the “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, with the hag who turned out not to be one. It was very fairy tale-like, and I like that sort of stuff.
I haven’t read The Corner but I read Homicide last summer. It was an eye-opener. The section dealing with the court system was especially enlightening.
Season 4 of The Wire is out on DVD – mine came today. Woo fuckin’ hoo!!! It’s a first viewing for me. I’d seen bits and pieces of The Wire while flipping channels but it didn’t grab me. Another crime show – yawn. Then one of my kids gave me the first season for Christmas and I gave it the attention it deserved.
I love the Grande Bibliothèque du Québec – I’m reading more than I have in ages. I’ve been averaging a book every two to three days or so.
Lately I’ve read most of their Terry Pratchett section; Seeing, by José Saramago; The Dinner Party, by Judy Chicago (about the famous work of feminist art); Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke; More Annotated Alice, by Lewis Carroll and Martin Gardner; Hello, Cruel World by Kate Bornstein; and Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution, by Berlin and Kay (linguistics).
On my shelf I’ve got A Book of Five Rings, by Miyamoto Musashi; The Ladies of Grace Adieu, by Clarke; The Stone Raft, by Saramago; How To Become a Virgin, by Quentin Crisp; the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman.
I’ve also got about four shelves full of books I haven’t read yet. I’m looking forward to The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood, among others.
I finished Exit Strategy. The end was anti-climatic and the sexual tension between the two main characters never really developed. I don’t recommend it.
I haven’t decided yet what will be next. I finished that just before bed last night and I re-read the last Potter until I slept. I’ll pick something tonight.
Just finished
*The Protector’s War * S.M. Stirling - somewhat ambivalent about this series, but I’m still interested, so I guess I’ll continue … Seems kinda like a cross between “The Stand” and “Lucifer’s Hammer”, though
Thirteen Richard K Morgan - another good near-future sci-fi read
Satyrday Steven Bauer - lots of fun, kind of like “Watership Down.” Lovely
Working On
*A Meeting at Corvallis * S.M. Stirling - see above. Like I said, I’m still interested …
*Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire * Ruth Downie - from the Library - just started, it’s pretty good so far
Up Next
*The Shadowmancer Returns * G.P. Taylor - “The Shadowmancer” and “Wyrmwood” were lovely dark mystical novels set in Whitby in the 18th century (you know, the Whitby of Dracula, among others). Technically “children’s” books (at least at my library, where I found the first ones), but very much readable by adults, along the lines of Pullman’s “His Dark Materials”
*The City of Dreaming Books * Walter Moers - I LOVED “Rumo” and very much liked “The 13-½ Lives of Captain Bluebear,” so this is next! Again, these “Zamonia” novels are technically “children’s” books, but eminently enjoyable by any adult. The author intersperses great line drawings, and the translation (from the original German) is superb. I’m really looking forward to this one.
*Teasing Secrets from the Dead: My Investigations at America’s Most Infamous Crime Scenes * Emily Craig - it’s been in the “to read” pile for a while, & I’m about in the mood for a new good true-crime-type book
*Lullabies for Little Criminals * Heather O’Neill - Recommended by a Canadian friend.
I am just finishing A Charmed Death. It is more geared towards women (IMO) but it is a light easy read and I will likely read the series.
I am half way through Mrs. Jeffries and the Silent Knight It was billed as a Victorian Miss Marple and since I love mysteries and it was in the bargain bin I thought I would give it a try. I can’t say that I’m hating it, but I doubt I will read the series.
I will go out tonight and pick up Jim Butcher’s Captain’s Fury which I have been eagerly looking forward to. For those of you who like Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, this series is his more traditional fantasy. I really like it (although I think the first book was a little slow.) I will probably start skimming Silent Knight because I want to get to this one so badly.
I’ve just started the new Pevear and Volokhonsky translation. I’ve been lookiing forward to it because I enjoyed their Anna Karenina so much (even if it was an Oprah’s Book Club selection).
I wish I knew the history better, but perhaps this will be a good jumping off point to dig into the history from a nonfiction angle. What I miss most, though, is maps.
I have the Joel Carmichael translation of *Anna Karenina * and can recommend that.
Now reading “Kent Montana and the Really Ugly Thing from Mars,” about an alien who’s seen to much old TV invading New Jersey (where else), featuring Sparky the Adequate Dog. Got it from the library sale, not as funny as it should be.
I would like to read something like that, too. Weirdly.
I just finished Past Perfect by Susan Isaacs, which was *very *disappointing: possibly her worst book.
Now I’m getting ready to start something called Garcia’s Heart. In the library this looked good, but now that I’ve got it home I’m thinking it’s a little grim.
Frankly, I haven’t read anything really good in a while, and nothing I pick up appeals to me. I’m combing this thread for ideas.