I’ve been kicking back with a nice H.P. Lovecraft collection, probably supplimented shortly by a Keith Laumer “Bolo” anthology. (Should make for some interesting dreams…)
Just checked out from the library –
Paul Revere’s Ride, by David Hackett Fischer (I’m on page 27 and it’s good so far!)
The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman, which looks really good, about the couple in charge of the Warsaw Zoo during the German occupation.
Girls in Pants, by Ann Brashares, the third book in this YA series.
I returned:
20th Century Ghosts, by Joe Hill. I remember AuntiePam had mentioned this on the SDMB, possibly in one of these reading threads. Short stories, mostly horror, by Stephen King’s son. I thought it was a pretty good read, but it was nearly impossible for me to stop mentally comparing it to Stephen King. Poor guy.
Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins, which won the Newbery a few years ago. I liked it a lot – the writing is very lovely and lyrical… but I cannot imagine an actual child reading this with any genuine interest, it’s very pensive and almost dreamlike in parts. It’s like a book for adults who enjoy reading children’s fiction.
Did you read Pop Art before you returned the book? Joe blows his daddy out of the water with that one. I can’t think of any King story with that much heart.
Oh gosh, yes … I loved that one, thought it was the best of the collection.
I returned it to the library because I was finished reading the whole thing, not because I didn’t like it. The way I phrased it sort of sounds like I returned it in a fit of pique or something.
I’m reading *Stalking Susan * by Julie Kramer. It’s about a television investigative reporter looking into a series of murders that happen once a year with a victim name Susan. Cool part is that I’m reading a signed copy. I’ve met Julie a couple of times, and she’s great!
I’m also about to pick up *The Neverending Story * from the library. I love the movie, but have never read the book.
The book is fantastic! It’s one of the few books I’ve read at a deliberately slower pace than usual because I wanted to prolong the joy of reading it.
I’m reading:
Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale – historical fiction blended with magical realism and told with really vivacious, almost rollicking prose. I’m on p. 67 and I’m in love.
Roberto Bolano’s The Savage Detectives – on the recommendation of a couple of friends, who compared it to Borges. I haven’t actually started this one yet (don’t tell them).
Peter Hoeg’s The Quiet Girl – also a bit of magical realism in this one. I loved Smilla’s Sense of Snow, and while this one isn’t as gripping and the protagonist isn’t nearly as enchanting as Smilla, it’s still pretty good. Hoeg has quite a distinctive voice, and I like it.
Jonathan Barnes’s The Somnambulist – I just finished this today. Ehh, 2.5 stars. About half-way through I realized I had lost the plot and didn’t care about any of the characters. I finished it only for the sense of accomplishment.
I used to live in southeastern Montana, so I’ll have to check this book out.
I’m reading the *Lions Of Lucerne * by Brad Thor, after reading *Dark Wind * by Clive Cussler.
I’m on a real thriller/conspiracy/pulp kick lately. Good shitter reading material, as it is quickly assimilated, enjoyed and tossed aside.
Finished Gone With the Wind. I’ve always been unhappy with the ending of the movie, but now that I’ve finally read the book, I’m okay with it. Scarlett responded to Rhett’s leaving the same way she responded to every other disappointment or challenge. She bucked up. She bucked up a bit too quickly, maybe, but the book had to end somewhere.
Now reading White Oleander by Janet Fitch. I like the simplicity of the writing. Short sentences, strong words.
I had a similar experience with the book. I wanted to like it, it seemed like it had a great premise, but I was bored. IIR, I was disappointed with the main character who was supposed to be this great Holmesian detective, but they never showed us his brilliance, we were only told that he was brilliant. In the end I finished it, but for pretty much the same reason as you.
I’m glad to hear it’s that kind of good! I just got home from the library with it.
I loved that book too. Very original and not like anything I’d read before. I hope you enjoy it all the way through! Someday I want to read more of his work.
I picked up Charles de Lint’s The Little Country from the library. (Why yes, I am on a de Lint kick.) I’m about halfway through the first part, and so far it’s really good. Set in Cornwall which I know next to nothing about so it’s edumacational as well!
(Copied from the August reading thread I started tonight, having overlooked this one)…
I just finished The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, and really enjoyed it. A time travel romance/drama; very powerful and thought-provoking. Wiki says there’ll be a movie of it in the next year or so.
Next up: re-reading a favorite from my high school years, Arthur Rex by Thomas Berger (probably best known as the author of Little Big Man). It’s an affectionate and clever retelling, somewhat but not too much tongue-in-cheek, of Arthurian legend. Plenty of swords, sorcery, romance and valiant quests, but also jokes and veiled anachronisms that always make me smile.
I love most of Joe Haldeman’s early books (The Forever War, Infinite Dreams and Tool of the Trade are longtime favorites), but have been disappointed in his recent work. Hope he’s turned over a new leaf.
*The Coming *(2000) and The Guardian (2002) I didn’t like, but his recent books Camouflage, Old Twentieth and The Accidental Time Machine I thought were pretty good.
I’m reading Michael Flynn’s Rogue Star, the second in his near-future science fiction series that starts with Firestar. It’s the story of mankind just beginning to push out into the solar system. It was so near-future when it was written in the late 90’s that it reads like alternate history now, but I’m really enjoying it.
I read The Coming and it sucked; likewise Forever Peace (about U.S. troops using telepresence-controlled combat robots in Central America) and Forever Free (a very disappointing sequel to The Forever War). Haven’t read any of his others since then - thanks for the tip.
Two other good books of his: All My Sins Remembered (about a spy in a far-future society who begins to lose his own identity because of espionage-enabling personality rewrites). Ditto The Hemingway Hoax (which is hard to explain, but is basically about how Hemingway’s writings are crucial to humanity’s future).
I’m still wading through Don Quixote but the end is in sight!
I just finished The Aviary Gate and started The Elizabethan Underworld.
This is one of my favourite books and I reread it almost every year.
I just finished Nixonland by Rick Perlstein, which is about the turbulent times during the mid-sixties to early seventies, and Nixon’s pervasive influence during that time. I will start reading The Stunt Man by Paul Brodeur when it arrives at my door. I don’t know anything about the novel’s reputation, but the movie based upon it is terrific, so I thought I would give it a try.
I just finished Cancer on $5 a Day *(chemo not included): How Humor Got Me Through the Toughest Journey of My Life *.
I do not have cancer, but have had a series of operations and received this book during my last recovery. A friend gave it to me thinking that the humor in it would help during my recovery.
As it was a gift, I wanted to like this much more. I confess that it did not make me laugh at all. In fact, the times he told stories about dealing with his problems with humor were the least enjoyable parts of the books. He talks about a joke he told to a fellow cancer patient and describes the man as being “bent over with laughter.” The joke he told was worth at most a smile.
But there were some touching parts and part of his plight reminded me of parts of my own. Don’t get me wrong, these last two operations I was not close to losing my life, but after a while you get tired of being sick. So there were things he talked about that I could relate to.
The ending especially was very touching.
A friend gave me his copy of White Oleander by Janet Fitch. I dumped it last night, when Astrid was getting acquainted with her high-class prostitute neighbor, in the second foster home. My guess is that they’ll have a sexual relationship, which will be just as unrealistic as Astrid’s first, with the carpenter in the first foster home. Blech.
Now reading a book of short stories by Kate Chopin.
This Town Will Never Let us Go by Lawrence Miles
and
Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown.
Both recently arrived from Amazon, so I’m just getting started.
Amongst others, I am currently reading Barbarians: An Alternative Roman History by Terry Jones (also of Monty Python fame). The book was apparently a companion to a BBC series that Jones did. I’m halfway through right now, and am finding it really engaging in looking at the history of the era not quite so much through the eyes of the “victors”.