I have a couple Margaret Frazers and a stack of Amelia Peabody (I just need to get Last Camel Died at Noon), a Robert Van Gulick, plenty of non-fiction history.. so really I’m NOT hurting for reading material:D
I liked it quite a bit, not so much for the story (which was only semi-coherent, because it was started as a web serial), but for the writing style which succeeded in being alternately crude, hilarious, philosophic, and quite touching. I just finished the sequel "This Book is Full of Spiders (Seriously Dude, Don't Touch It)" which is very much more of the same thing -- two total fuck-ups striving to stave off the End of the World as We Know It.
There are some inconsistencies between the two books (and within the books as well), but that's likely because the author is, by his own admission, an unreliable narrator. And again, the writing is often crudely hilarious. The ending is a bit (very) * deus ex machina * so that knocks it down to a 3 1/2 - 4 out of 5 for me.
Into Thin Air was excellent! Mountain climbers are crazy, though.
The descriptions of his books have always sounded terrible to me - one day I will have to actually read one.
First up a book by Gus Russo, the guy who wrote the definitive work on the Chicago mafia, The Outfit, This one is a sort of follow-up, Supermob: How Sydney Korshak and his Criminal Associates Became America’s Hidden Power Brokers. It’s a glorious read and it’s huge (I do love a nice fat book!).
Second off the blocks is Peter Straub’s The Throat. It’s the third novel in his Blue Rose trilogy but it can be read perfectly well in isolation. I think it’s one of Straub’s two or three best works. Those who know Straub (Ghost Story, Floating Dragon, The Talisman, The Black House - those last two co-authored with King) will know what to expect. For those new to his books there’s enough mystery, strangeness and terror here to satisfy the most jaded palate.
Just finished Robert Heinlein’s classic Have Space Suit - Will Travel with my 12-year-old. We both liked it; a very satisfying ending, in particular. Thought we might try Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles next.
You’ll get no argument from me. Try Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven next, about Mormon fundamentalism - it has both an interesting historical overview of Mormonism, and a kinda scary contemporary true crime story.
Mmm, I should put that on my list.. being out here in Utah and all. Pack it with me to the next family reunion???
No dessert for you, buddy!
Oh good… have you ever SEEN what passes for dessert here?
Just finished Zadie Smith’s NW, which was very good. I found it to have a lot to do with what makes up one’s self, which is always interesting to me. Today I’m starting Galatea 2.2.
Another good one I read this month was Jenny Erpenbeck’s Visitation.
Dodger by Terry pratchett just arrived…
Now the question is: Do I finish Ascending Pecularity first or dive in now?
Actually, no. What’s a typical Utah dessert?
This book on the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, a famous 19th century magical order; this book on Emma Hardinge Britten, a fascinating early feminist, Spiritualist, Theosophist, etc.; and a few of the more interesting contributions to the first volume of Jon Stewart’s Kierkegaard and his Danish contemporaries. Skimmed a book on witch burning in medieval Denmark, too.
Well we’re not called the lime jello capital of the world for nothing…
So there is lime jello with shredded carrots
lime jell with cottage cheese
pistachio pudding with cottage cheese
lime jello with marshmellows (carrots optional)
pistachi pudding with marshmellows
lime jello with canned fruit (oranges and the fruit salad being most popular)
Mind you these are homemade specialties so if you ever attend a church function or affair with a high concentration of LDS you’ll be certain to see at least one of them
Finished *The Baker Street Letters by Michael Robertson *a mystery with a fun original premise. The execution was only OK, but I liked the premise well enough to recommend trying it.
Whoever leases 221b Baker Street is obliged, under the terms of the lease, to answer any letters addressed to Sherlock Holmes. Reggie Heath’s law firm takes up residence there and his somewhat hapless brother Nigel is assigned the task of answering the letters. One letter in particular, a letter from an 8 year old girl received 20 years prior, catches his imagination and off to LA he goes to investigate.
It wasn’t a bad read, but I had hoped for more.
Thanks, DZedNConfused. Yet another reason to be glad I’m not a Mormon.
Khadaji, if you want to read some fantastic Holmesian tales, check out June Thomson’s The Secret Files of Sherlock Holmes. As good as Conan Doyle at his best.
Hehehe yeah me too…of course we DO also have some of the best ice cream here
Oh my yes - re-read Blackout before going on to All Clear - I was warned here that there’s not really any recap of Vol I in Vol II - and that’s really what this is - a HUGE novel split into two less-huge volumes.
This and Un Lun Dun are probably two of Mieville’s most accessible works - if you enjoy them, you might want to delve deeper - but his stuff can be hard going.
Speaking of hard going, I’d tried reading the original Bram Stoker Dracula a few times before finally coming across this full cast audiobook version - which I picked up for free by snagging the Amazon e-book version. Not only do you get actors Alan Cumming as Dr. John Seward and Tim Curry as Abraham Van Helsing, but well-known audiobook narrators Katharine Kellgren as Mina Murray Harker and Simon Vance as Jonathan Harker. Their performances make this work so much more accessible! I’ve just passed the halfway point and am quite engrossed.
Thanks also for the “young women in WWII” reccos - the local library has Flygirl and I suggested the purchase of Land Girls to the Indiana Digital media consortium. However, I was actually looking more for non-fiction recommendations… 
I still haven’t seen the Hitchcock movie version, but I’m presently about 33% of the way through John Buchan’s The 39 Steps.
I liked the book. I loved the movie.
I finished The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling this morning. In the first chapter, a man dies, leaving an empty seat on the town council. The rest of the book deals with all the consequences of that event. There is no main character, but we are shown the various people in this small community. At first, I had trouble keeping track of who was who and not much was happening, but things slowly built up. When the payoff came, although not surprising, it was devastating. I could have posted this in the “Books that made you cry” thread.
In short, it was well-written, it pulled me in, and I will never read it again!