Whatcha readin' November edition

Cafe Society
61

I finished Bangkok Eight, by John Burdett. Very good. He’s really got Bangkok down. But I’m always curious when authors mix real places with made-up ones. For instance, the bars he names in Nana Plaza really exist, but the two he names in Soi Cowboy do not. He also has the prison on the river, which it’s not; it’s very far from the river. But an excellent read, and I look forward to buying and reading his sequel, Bangkok Tattoo, in the near future.

For now, though, I’m just starting The Crossing, by Cormac McCarthy, which is volume 2 of his Border Trilogy.

62

I’m reposting here, because I got sidetracked by other reading. I’ve put Morrison’s Bluest Eye aside; I picked up a cheap, cheap copy of The Great Gatsby by F. John Fitzgerald at a second-hand book store and finished that over the last three days. I also got Robert Middlekauff’s The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789, in hopes that it will prove more useful than David McCollough’s seriously overhyped 1776. So I’m currently reading that on the train, with Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales being left for home reading.

63

This is almost on-topic. Here is my first Amazon order, a few more will come before I fly out of here on 15 December. Anything to add?

2 of: The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need


1 of: The Top 10 Distinctions Between Millionaires and the Middle Class
Sold by: Amazon.com, LLC
1 of: Library Scrabble Game
1 of: The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945
Sold by: Amazon.com, LLC

—3 November 2007—

Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain, 1942: Reproduced from the original typescript, War Department, Washington, DC (Instructions for Servicemen) - The Bodleian Library
$9.99 - Quantity: 1

Mafia! - Jay Mohr
$13.99 - Quantity: 1

Bored of the Rings: A Parody of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings - Harvard Lampoon
$10.20 - Quantity: 1 -

VIP - The Complete First Season - Barry Primus
$44.99 - Quantity: 1- A classic season of a classic chassis.

The Works: Anatomy of a City - Kate Ascher
$23.10 - Quantity: 1

Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich - Robert Frank
$16.47 - Quantity: 1 -

1634: The Bavarian Crisis (The Ring of Fire) - Eric Flint
$17.16 - Quantity: 1 -

Chef! - The Complete Collection (Series 1-3) - Hilary Lyon
$40.49 - Quantity: 1

OBIT. Inspiring Stories of Ordinary People who Led Extraordinary Lives - Jim Sheeler
$21.51 - Quantity: 1 -

The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 (The Liberation Trilogy) - Rick Atkinson
$20.99

The Best Of The Colbert Report - Stephen Colbert
$14.99 - Quantity: 1

64

I am still slogging through my October books. I go through stages like this. Sometimes I’ll read two or three books a week and then other times it will take me weeks to read two books. The last Potter is OK, but drags for me at times. Alpine For You - I’m still not sure why I am finishing it.

65

I picked up The Scent of Shadows, the first of an urban fantasy series by Vicki Pettersson, but I couldn’t get into it immediately so I put it back down.

Meanwhile, I’m really enjoying Dorothy Sayers. I finished Have His Carcase, and I’m almost done with Gaudy Night, which is great. I think I’ll continue with more of Harriet Vane in Busman’s Honeymoon next, and then Thrones, Dominations.

66

I’ve finished The Forsyte Saga and started Summer of Night by Dan Simmons, for a group read at SFF World. It’s a re-read but so long ago that I’ve forgotten everything.

Forsyte was wonderful. Even after 700+ pages, I wanted more. I’m sad at leaving those people, but their time, their age is over, so I guess it’s fitting.

Summer is a coming of age novel with a horror element. It reminds me of Stephen King’s It – kids uniting to defeat evil and deal with their own personal/family issues. I don’t think there’s any group sex though.

67

Now you can watch the Masterpiece Theatre series. There were two of them, both very good.

I’m reading The Gathering, by Anne Enright. I don’t know what to make of it yet. It’s kind of a weird hallucinatory Irish wake.

68

Finished: The Book of Joby. I absolutely hated it but it’s my fault for not researching it better. I am TOO damn stubborn to put a book aside if I’m not enjoying it, a habit I wish I could break.

Reading: Kicked, Bitten, and Scratched: Life and Lessons at the World’s Premier School for Exotic Animal Trainers & A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire which is about the discovery of cochineal. Both, so far, have me hooked.

69

“On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen” by Harold McGee.

70

Well I finished *Blade Runner * (or Do Anroids Dream of Electric Sheep?) and have moved on to *Eye of The Needle * by Ken Follet. I’m 5 chapters in and I’m hooked. I normally don’t get into spy/war type novels but after reading QBVII by Leon Uris last year, I’m getting more curious about the genre.

Any authors I should avoid on the subject?
Oh and because I’m a geek to the nth degree and a dork extraordinaire, I am also re-reading an old college text. Intro to Linguistics. Yeah, this girl knows how to have a good time.

71

I loved the book and have been recommending it like crazy. What didn’t you like? (So I’ll know who not to recommend it to.) :slight_smile:

72

Welcome to the boards, fellow Floridian!

73

In general, I wasn’t expecting the story to be so religious & was expecting a more modern Arthurian-esque story. IF I had known about the religious theme, perhaps the title would have had more meaning to me and I would have known what to expect! (I did also read it as “The Book of Toby” when I first grabbed it. Yes, I’m a dork.) :wink:

I don’t have the book handy but I’ll have to read the book description on the back again to see if this was user error. If I had read the description on Amazon, I would have passed it by.

And because I don’t want to ruin anything for those who may be enjoying this livre:

When Joby moved to Taubolt (sp?), the story picked up a bit for me as it reminded me of living on the coast but overall it was just too miserable a plot for me. I just wanted to slap Joby silly throughout most of the book. It just boils down to not enjoying ANY of the characters whatsoever which made the result of the ‘bet’ unimportant to me. The Arthurian aspect to the plot seemed to me that it was a tacked on addition and didn’t really make sense being there.

Oh, and I also discovered today that the author is an artist and has some gorgeous work posted on his site.

74

Because, apparently, I need to have a longer to-be-read list, I’ve added several to my goodreads to-read shelf. :slight_smile:

I’m about 1/3 of the way through Freedom and Necessity. Haven’t had time to sit down and read for long stretches, so it’s slow going. I’m really enjoying it, though.

I’ll be reading Born on a Blue Day next.

GT

75

I read that – thought it was good, not great.

76

A Book of Toby would have involved clowns and gone in a whole 'nother direction, so I think I understand your disappointment. :slight_smile:

I think Ferrari was very brave to tackle God, angels, Arthur and Merlin in one book. That doubles the number of people he could offend. It’s good that he has his artwork to fall back on.

I was more familiar with the Book of Job than with Arthurian legend, so I was very happy with the book. There were some slow spots though, but like you say, things picked up when he got to Taubalt.

77

Am currently in the middle of Anansi Boys, and just finished Good Omens. I have to say, the latter was amusing but I don’t think it quite lived up to the hype. As for the former, I can already tell it’s not going to be my most favorite Gaiman book. It seems decent enough.

78

It’s for my book group, so I’ll at least be giving it a try. (No one feels obligated to finish the selected book. We can always find something to talk about…) It’s not something I would have selected, but that’s sometimes the point of our group.

GT

79

Eat, Pray, Love (falling-asleep book)

Unlikely Destinations (bathtub book)

Made to Stick (treadmill book)

None of them spectacular. I am now done with several critical projects, so I’ll try to get my book reviews up to date on LiveJournal. I think my goodreads list is up to date, though not all of my recently added books are fully categorized yet.

80

Hitler’s Scientists by Cornwell - about 1/3 of the way through it - difficult to read, due to writing style and topic

Just finished The Brief History of the Dead by Brockmeier. I thought it was a good book, but a little longer than necessary - although that may have been the authors goal/message.

Spending most of my time reading on this one Ambitious Brew - The Story of American Beer by Ogle. Pretty easy read (read about 200 pages on a 2 hour flight over last weekend.