Which, I’m pretty sure, doesn’t feature “you suck, fucker” in any way, shape, or form. 
I’m listening to Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War. It seems overly dramatic and outdated, what with everyone shaking in their shoes about The Vigils, a boys club that doesn’t seem to do anything but prank people, and classfuls of teenage boys that tremble when the teacher gives them a dirty look. I know this is all supposed to whip up into something dark, so I’ll wait and see, but at this point my eyes ache from rolling.
Also, is it too much to ask that someone actually EAT some chocolate in this book?! 
During my commute I’m listening to David Sedaris read his most recent short-story collection, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, on eight CDs. It’s better than his 2004 book Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, overall, but still pretty uneven. Hearing him read is half the fun as always, but sometimes it feels like he doesn’t have much more original, funny new stuff to share.
“Town & Country” is my favorite so far, though. He sits next to an elegantly-dressed older couple on a plane and feels utterly outclassed by them until they begin to speak, swearing like longshoremen. Sedaris wrote, “It was as if the grandparents from a Ralph Lauren ad had been kidnapped and then forced to appear in a David Mamet play.” 
[bolding mine]
Oh god! I know! I had to read it last year for a Teen Literature class I took and it was just awful. As near as I can tell, The Vigils are made up entirely of ten kids. There are more named non-Vigil students in the school than there are members of The Vigils. How a handful of kids supposedly “runs” the school was laughable.
And I know it’s set in the 70s, but the way the priests keep saying “well boys will be boys” about everything The Vigils do is ridiculous. The end is the worst…
After holding a boxing match at the school (complete with floodlights and a roaring crowd of hundreds of kids), The Vigils nearly beat the main character to death. The head priest’s response is more or less “At least he didn’t die. Now run along you scamps!”
I agree. I find Stross to usually be interesting but rarely entertaining.
That said, I’m currently reading his Merchant Families series. Just finished the first book and started the second. Let’s see if I get through it.
Also reading Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry That Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age by Arthur Herman. It’s good; Herman’s a good writer and he brings out some interesting details. But I’ve found here and in past books that he forces his overall points.
I’ll check your spoiler sometime next week, Justin. Another thing is that I know I’ve read this book before, but I don’t remember it, so that’s a bad sign.
Question for you: My sister in law gave me a copy of Binchy’s Scarlet Feather “because I’ve heard it was good.” I read widely but not indiscriminately, and the first page turns me off. What did you all think of it? Should I read it? Believe me, I have plenty of other books, but it was a gift and I try to give those more latitude.
I did decide to read some King and went with “Gerald’s Game,” which I’ve seen mentioned on the boards several times in various threads. Not bad. Overall one of his better-written books, I thought. Next I’m going to start “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
I also need to pick out something to read during a few days at the lake. Right now I’m considering “Prodigal Summer” by Barbara Kingsolver or “The Hour I First Believed” by Wally Lamb. Any suggestions? Last year during my week at the lake I read “The Stand.”
susan, I have Scarlet Feather but haven’t read it yet. I’ve only read a few of hers; Circle of Friends, Evening Class and Tara Road, I think. I liked all of them, but they are somewhat formulaic and predictable. I’d stick with it. IIRC, her books tend to start slow.
yellowval, I’ve loved all of Barbara Kingsolver’s books, especially Prodigal Summer. I haven’t read the new Wally Lamb, but I loved I Know This Much Is True and hated She’s Come Undone.
FWIW, as I’ve written before, my book club read his Love in the Time of Cholera and was baffled by it. And these are smart, experienced, widely-read people. YMMV.
Here is some completely unhelpful feedback… I remember not liking that book, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was about. Just that I had an “oh brother” reaction to most of the events of the story. And I do like a lot of Binchy’s other books.
I actually really liked “Love in the Time of Cholera,” and the description of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” on Goodreads intrigues me. I’ll give it a try.
I’m sure I’ll end up reading both the Kingsolver and Lamb eventually, it’s just tough to choose which book should be my special read-by-the-lake book—or if it should be something else entirely. We’re talking life and death here, folks.
I loved both of Lamb’s other books, even “She’s Come Undone,” which many people seem to dislike. I’ll admit that I’m a bit concerned about “Prodigal Summer.” I hated “The Poisonwood Bible” (which most people seem to love). I only bought it because it was at a garage sale and I couldn’t resist. Maybe I should bring both along just in case.
It’s the only sensible solution.
I absolutely loved The Poisonwood Bible. I thought it was incredible.
‘Hate’ may be too strong a word for She’s Come Undone; I just felt no sympathy for the main character. I didn’t like her at all.
I really liked the other one - I Know This Much Is True. It’s one of my favorite books.
What is The Hour I First Believed about?
The Hour I First Believed is about Columbine and every other fucking thing that’s gone wrong in the last 10 years. I didn’t care for it, though I did finish it. (See my comments in last month’s thread, or maybe it was May’s.)
Yellowval – if you want a big, fat, lovely vacation book, I’ll suggest The Crimson Petal and the White – set in Victorian times, it’s the story of two women from different social classes. It pops up in these threads regularly, always with praise and pleasure.
Thanks, twickster.
I also have* The Crimson Petal and the White * in my to-be-read pile, and I think I started it a while back, but didn’t get very far before I was distracted by some other book. You’d think since I have no job and no life, I’d get more reading done…
Thanks for the recommendation! I will see if I can get it in time. I’ll have to order it from another library within the system since my library doesn’t have it.
Dumb book has been driving me crazy. I’ve been listening to the audiobook in sad little bite sized portions, on and off for weeks. For some reason I thought it was important to to finish it before my copy of Columbine comes in for me at the library. Now, every time I crank it up now I see this post and start giggling. I think I should probably bag it.
Finished Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy. Enjoyed it very much. It gives the perp’s background so you can see the events leading up to the murder, then an extended trial sequence and its aftermath. Hope to read his Sister Carrie in the near future.
But next up for now: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers.
I would recommend reading a little about the background of the book. When I read it, it was part of a course taught by a Colombia expert, and he was able to point out all of the little cultural ins that Colombians readily understood, plus all of the autobiographical data hidden in it. Even most of the characters names have a special meaning.
One funny incident I recall involves a bit toward the end where some writers visit a brothel, and one of them loses the manuscript of a book he had been working on. The writers were all real people, friends of Garcia-Marquez, and to his dying day, the one portrayed as losing the manuscript had to keep defending himself in public that such an occurrence never happened. Garcia-Marquez had put that in as a joke.