From the emotional (Duma Key) to the cerebral, I’m starting William Gibson’s Spook Country.
Finally finished Aurian. It was a dull uninspired meandering tale that I might still have found something to appreciate about had it not been the first of 3. I can’t be bothered to read the others.
I had to turn A History of Britain back in to the library before I could finish it, but it was okay. Not as interesting as the documentary, but that goes with the territory.
I’m currently reading Procopius’ The Secret History about the rule of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora in Byzantium in the 500s. Ah, ancient gossip.
I finished John Scalzi’s Zoe’s Tale yesterday, and thought it was great. It was interwoven very skillfully with the storyline in The Last Colony, but from the perspective of that book’s protagonist’s adoptive daughter, and Scalzi filled in some gaps in a very clever way. I hope he keeps writing more in the universe he’s created.
Now to return to Charles Stross’s Saturn’s Children, and to begin Henry James’s novella “The Beast in the Jungle.” I’m also dipping into J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Simarillion again for the first time in, oh, jeez, probably a decade at least.
Cancel that. For the second time, I wasn’t in the mood for Spook Country, as much as I loved his other work. Mood remedied by Tooth Fairy, by Graham Joyce.
Now I’m reading Ship of Magic, by Robin Hobb. So far it’s good but not exceptional.
Well, it’s sort of crystalized now what the reads for the next couple of days or weeks will be (more likely weeks, it’s sort of a slog, really). Don’t blame me for this being perhaps the most boring Whatcha Readin’ post yet:
R.W.B. Lewis: The American Adam: Innocence, Tragedy, and Tradition in the Nineteenth Century. Must-read American Studies volume on the idea of innocence and the Adamic nature of the transcendental and post-transcendental American literary scene. It’s interesting, but it’s so obviously 1950s literary studies: few annotations, and very little explanation of the interpretation Lewis is subjecting his readings to.
In a similar vein:
Terry Eagleton: Literary Theory: An Introduction. Another must-read, I suppose, that I have not yet read. It’s very entertaining, actually, and teaches a lot. The first chapter, What is Literature, is necessary reading for anyone interested in criticism.
Herman Melville: Israel Potter. Part of research into the image of John Paul Jones. Thus also
James Fenimore Cooper: The Red Rover. Melville is by far, far, far the better writer.
Edward P. Jones: The Known World. I’m looking forward to reading this again.
Karen Armstrong: The Bible: The Biography. I just picked this up cheaply. Not exactly sure what I’m expecting, though it seems an easy enough read.
Finally getting around to reading Drood, by Dan Simmons. I’m about 1/4 of the way in and really enjoying it; although the VictorianSpeak is getting a little tiresome (but I suppose it’s necessary for authenticity’s sake).
Just finished *The Glass Castle *by Jeannette Walls. Man, oh, man.
Meaning…?
Oh boy, I read this recently as well, and by coincidence, my mom had picked it up at the library. The two of us are amazed that people can be so dysfunctional.
It is her memoir of growing up virtually homeless, with her alcoholic, frequently jailed father and her mother who was so self-centered she would allow her children to raid garbage cans for their only food rather than sell the property she owned or the diamond ring she found because she liked wearing the ring. The children lived in an unheated shack, often sleeping in cardboard boxes and using a bucket as a toilet; any money they earned babysitting or doing other odd jobs was stolen by the father to buy booze.
They all escaped to New York in their mid teens and got jobs and education. Walls went to Barnard even as her parents were living on the streets and eventually squatting. When she married, her mother wanted Walls’ husband to give her a million dollars to buy more land in Texas – the land she already owned was worth a million. It had never occurred to her to tell her children.
Walls is an amazingly good writer and very matter-of-fact; surprisingly not bitter. My circumstances were nowhere near as extreme as hers, and I am very bitter. I am wavering between trying to adopt her attitude and raging about how she can be so incredibly accepting of this insanity.
I just finished The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, a YA novel about a society that forces selected children to participate in a reality show in which the winner is the last one alive. Very very good, but I think the book could have benefited from a different ending. Apparently this will be the first of a series, and although it was great, enough ends were tied up that I don’t know that I need to follow the characters any longer. That said, of course I’m going to…
Now I’m reading Frankly My Dear: Gone With The Wind Revisited, by Molly Haskell. I love GWTW, both movie and book, but this is one of those “more than I really wanted to know” deals. I am finding that I don’t much care what David O. Selznick (or even Margaret Mitchell!) was thinking at any given point. If you do, I’m sure it’s a fine book.
Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure
I read and liked this book as well. I couldn’t help but compare it to Battle Royale though, which I felt was the superior of the two.
I’m reading Beyond World’s End by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill and Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.
And The Silo by John Kinsella, but that’s for my literature class. I wouldn’t want to waste my time on it if it was up to me.
Loren Eisley is absolutely one of my favorite authors of all time. I recently started Darwin’s Century: Evolution and the Men Who Discovered It and am loving it. It’s a work examining the progression of men and ideas at play during the time when our modern understanding of evolution began to coalesce. A thoughtful and fascinating read.
WSJ had a good review of that. Are you enjoying it?
Put down Future Shock by Alvin Toffler. A friend suggested that it might be interesting to pick this up 30X years after it appeared. I thought it was a fun idea, so I bought a used copy.
It was a dull, dry read and I just didn’t care enough to keep at it.
I’m reading a book about about fake Vietnam vets called Stolen Valor, by B. G. Burkett. It’s a fascinating phenomenon and Mr. Burkett has clearly busted several poseurs, but Mr. Burkett’s apparent animosity towards real vets who came home to oppose the war is making me wonder about the book’s agenda. For instance, he claims that Ron Kovic’s (the Born on the Fourth of July guy) story of naivety turned to disillusionment couldn’t possibly be an honest account, because Kovic signed up for a second tour of duty. :dubious: