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Other Artforms => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: iheartgranola on Jun 20, 2017, 02:02 PM

Title: What are you reading?
Post by: iheartgranola on Jun 20, 2017, 02:02 PM
Having just done a quick read of Catcher in the Rye, I'm getting ready to start Big Little Lies. I didn't watch the HBO series, but from what I've heard I should plan to after I've read it.

What about you? What have you read this year, are you currently reading, or intend to read soon?
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Vera Charles on Jun 20, 2017, 02:09 PM
I'm just finishing Nick Hytner's Balancing Acts - an account of his time running the National Theatre. Interesting in parts, gossipy and bursts of insight. I've also got a few (British) political auto biographies on the go - Kenneth Clarke's Kind of Blue is next up.
I've also just started Paul Scott's Staying On - triggered by my rewatching the 1980's telly adaptation of The Jewel in the Crown.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Gsavage14 on Jun 20, 2017, 02:10 PM
Currently reading 'Going to Sea in a Sieve' by Danny Baker - autobiography of a British presenter and writer, (IMHO) one of the most under-rated masters of radio in recent years, but also a brilliantly nostalgic read for anyone who grew up in (or near) Britain of the 1970s and 80s

Just finished reading (again) A Song Of Spider-Man ... Not brilliantly written but horribly compelling read about the absolute car-crash that was the production period for Spider-Man on Broadway.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Gsavage14 on Jun 20, 2017, 02:13 PM
Quote from: Vera Charles on Jun 20, 2017, 02:09 PMI'm just finishing Nick Hytner's Balancing Acts - an account of his time running the National Theatre. Interesting in parts, gossipy and bursts of insight.

Have you read Richard Eyre's NT diaries - Changing Stages? Haven't read it for a while, but remember it being similarly intriguing
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Jun 20, 2017, 02:14 PM
Quote from: iheartgranola on Jun 20, 2017, 02:02 PMHaving just done a quick read of Catcher in the Rye, I'm getting ready to start Big Little Lies. I didn't watch the HBO series, but from what I've heard I should plan to after I've read it.

What about you? What have you read this year, are you currently reading, or intend to read soon?

Have you read Salinger's Glass family stories? I've always preferred them to The Catcher in the Rye.


As for me, I can't seem to focus on anything. I've been about halfway through Noah "Fargo" Hawley's novel Before the Fall for several weeks now.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Hester Jean on Jun 20, 2017, 02:23 PM
Quote from: iheartgranola on Jun 20, 2017, 02:02 PMHaving just done a quick read of Catcher in the Rye, I'm getting ready to start Big Little Lies. I didn't watch the HBO series, but from what I've heard I should plan to after I've read it.

What about you? What have you read this year, are you currently reading, or intend to read soon?

Catcher in the Rye is my "purse book" right now!!!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Vera Charles on Jun 20, 2017, 02:24 PM
Quote from: Gsavage14 on Jun 20, 2017, 02:13 PMHave you read Richard Eyre's NT diaries - Changing Stages? Haven't read it for a while, but remember it being similarly intriguing
I read them a while back (I think when I was still working there) and found them fascinating - much meatier and more thoughtful than Hytner's. Have you read Michael Blakemore's account of his time at the NT? Can't remember what it's called, but it is excoriating and a real page turner!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Gsavage14 on Jun 20, 2017, 02:38 PM
Not yet! Will do some digging and add it to the list!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Leighton on Jun 20, 2017, 02:51 PM
Blakemore's is something about blood ... Stage Blood?

I loved Eyre's National Service.

I am currently reading Richard Yates's Eleven Kinds of Loneliness ... slowly but surely!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Vera Charles on Jun 20, 2017, 02:56 PM
Quote from: Leighton on Jun 20, 2017, 02:51 PMBlakemore's is something about blood ... Stage Blood?

I loved Eyre's National Service.

I am currently reading Richard Yates's Eleven Kinds of Loneliness ... slowly but surely!

Yes, of course, to both titles - well done to your still youthful brain for remembering!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Leighton on Jun 20, 2017, 02:58 PM
I own Stage Blood but I've not actually read ... I just remember loving the account in Peter Hall's diaries of Blakemore calling for a vote of no confidence in him early in his tenure at the NT and the other directors just looking awkwardly around and refusing to take part.  The Eyre books are probably some of my favourite writings about theatre.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: iheartgranola on Jun 20, 2017, 03:16 PM
Quote from: Chris L on Jun 20, 2017, 02:14 PM
Quote from: iheartgranola on Jun 20, 2017, 02:02 PMHave you read Salinger's Glass family stories? I've always preferred them to The Catcher in the Rye.

I've never even heard of them! But a cursory search on Goodreads didn't turn up anything... Is this part of a bigger collection or something? I'd love to read more Salinger.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Jun 20, 2017, 03:30 PM
Quote from: Chris L on Jun 20, 2017, 02:14 PM
Quote from: iheartgranola on Jun 20, 2017, 02:02 PMHave you read Salinger's Glass family stories? I've always preferred them to The Catcher in the Rye.

I've never even heard of them! But a cursory search on Goodreads didn't turn up anything... Is this part of a bigger collection or something? I'd love to read more Salinger.

There are two major collections, each with two Glass family novellas in them: Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roofbeam Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction. Both are excellent. There's also a story about Seymour Glass in Salinger's short story collection Nine Stories, but that book is recommended for all nine stories, not just that one ("A Perfect Day for Bananafish").
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: nulipp on Jun 20, 2017, 03:33 PM
Trying to get through Gaiman's American Gods before I watch the miniseries, but I haven't been very dutiful in my reading.  I'm going to have a LOT of idle travel time over the next week and a half (see my "What's Been Going On ..." post in General Discussion), so I expect I'll be catching up!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: iheartgranola on Jun 20, 2017, 03:37 PM
Quote from: nulipp on Jun 20, 2017, 03:33 PMTrying to get through Gaiman's American Gods before I watch the miniseries, but I haven't been very dutiful in my reading.  I'm going to have a LOT of idle travel time over the next week and a half (see my "What's Been Going On ..." post in General Discussion), so I expect I'll be catching up!

It's a beast, but it's worth it! I read it back in January before I knew about the series... And I have to say that the first season is a damn good adaptation, but I guess that's for another subforum :)
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: iheartgranola on Jun 20, 2017, 03:37 PM
Quote from: Chris L on Jun 20, 2017, 03:30 PM
Quote from: Chris L on Jun 20, 2017, 02:14 PM
Quote from: iheartgranola on Jun 20, 2017, 02:02 PMHave you read Salinger's Glass family stories? I've always preferred them to The Catcher in the Rye.

I've never even heard of them! But a cursory search on Goodreads didn't turn up anything... Is this part of a bigger collection or something? I'd love to read more Salinger.

There are two major collections, each with two Glass family novellas in them: Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roofbeam Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction. Both are excellent. There's also a story about Seymour Glass in Salinger's short story collection Nine Stories, but that book is recommended for all nine stories, not just that one ("A Perfect Day for Bananafish").

Thank you! Adding these to my list!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Jun 20, 2017, 03:50 PM
Quote from: iheartgranola on Jun 20, 2017, 03:37 PM
Quote from: nulipp on Jun 20, 2017, 03:33 PMTrying to get through Gaiman's American Gods before I watch the miniseries, but I haven't been very dutiful in my reading.  I'm going to have a LOT of idle travel time over the next week and a half (see my "What's Been Going On ..." post in General Discussion), so I expect I'll be catching up!

It's a beast, but it's worth it! I read it back in January before I knew about the series... And I have to say that the first season is a damn good adaptation, but I guess that's for another subforum :)

You can talk about the TV show here (because it's relevant to Books) or start an American Gods thread in TV. I was thinking of starting one myself.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Jun 20, 2017, 03:52 PM
And great to see you here, @nulipp!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: iheartgranola on Jun 20, 2017, 04:27 PM
Quote from: Chris L on Jun 20, 2017, 03:50 PM
Quote from: iheartgranola on Jun 20, 2017, 03:37 PM
Quote from: nulipp on Jun 20, 2017, 03:33 PMTrying to get through Gaiman's American Gods before I watch the miniseries, but I haven't been very dutiful in my reading.  I'm going to have a LOT of idle travel time over the next week and a half (see my "What's Been Going On ..." post in General Discussion), so I expect I'll be catching up!

It's a beast, but it's worth it! I read it back in January before I knew about the series... And I have to say that the first season is a damn good adaptation, but I guess that's for another subforum :)

You can talk about the TV show here (because it's relevant to Books) or start an American Gods thread in TV. I was thinking of starting one myself.

You can go ahead and start it then, I'm off to change diapers and have my nightly bedtime fight with the natives.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Jun 20, 2017, 04:50 PM
Quote from: iheartgranola on Jun 20, 2017, 04:27 PMYou can go ahead and start it then, I'm off to change diapers and have my nightly bedtime fight with the natives.

Not exactly a glowing endorsement of parenthood, Bevan. ;)
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Jun 20, 2017, 05:59 PM
Okay, I started a discussion of the TV show American Gods over in the TV section. My opening message is spoiler-free, so it's safe to read even if you aren't up to date with the show or haven't finished the book yet. Feel free to be more specific in your responses.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Bakers_Wife on Jun 20, 2017, 08:28 PM
Currently reading some summer fun, Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: DiveMilw on Jun 21, 2017, 07:19 AM
For the past few months I've been making my way through the "Game of Thrones" books.  I think I'm in the middle of book three.  When they are all one collection in e-book format it is difficult to keep track of them.  It has been really interesting to see how the HBO series followed (or not) the books.  Normally I'm a proponent of reading the books first but in this case I'm glad I watched the series first.  It is helping me keep track of the all the characters, especially the featured ones who don't get there own chapters but constantly make appearances. 
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: KathyB on Jun 21, 2017, 08:04 AM
Quote from: DiveMilw on Jun 21, 2017, 07:19 AMFor the past few months I've been making my way through the "Game of Thrones" books.  I think I'm in the middle of book three.  When they are all one collection in e-book format it is difficult to keep track of them.

Do you feel like you're crawling along with no end in sight? I feel that way when reading the books individually; I can't imagine how it feels when you're reading them as a collection.

I haven't watched any of the TV series yet, and I don't think I have the stomach for it anyway.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: JustTheOneAnne on Jun 21, 2017, 09:18 AM
I just finished Swing Time by Zadie Smith. I sort of enjoyed it.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: KathyB on Jun 21, 2017, 10:17 AM
Quote from: JustTheOneAnne on Jun 21, 2017, 09:18 AMI just finished Swing Time by Zadie Smith. I sort of enjoyed it.

So did I. Emphasis on "sort of."

Currently I'm reading The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti.

The best book I've read all year has been The Nix by Nathan Hill. I may post a long list of everything I've read in the past six months or so, if I get really bored (and if I can remember what I read when).
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Jun 21, 2017, 10:50 AM
I need to create a list of all the books I've started and not finished over the last year. It would include American Gods. Not because it wasn't good, but because I put it down so long I forgot what was happening.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Diane on Jun 21, 2017, 10:55 AM
Quote from: KathyB on Jun 21, 2017, 10:17 AM
Quote from: JustTheOneAnne on Jun 21, 2017, 09:18 AMI just finished Swing Time by Zadie Smith. I sort of enjoyed it.

So did I. Emphasis on "sort of."

Currently I'm reading The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti.

The best book I've read all year has been The Nix by Nathan Hill. I may post a long list of everything I've read in the past six months or so, if I get really bored (and if I can remember what I read when).

I also liked The Nix a lot.

The book I am not recommending to people is A Little Life  by Hanya Yanagihara.   It starts out promisingly, but becomes misery porn, IMO.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: DiveMilw on Jun 21, 2017, 10:56 AM
Quote from: KathyB on Jun 21, 2017, 08:04 AM
Quote from: DiveMilw on Jun 21, 2017, 07:19 AMFor the past few months I've been making my way through the "Game of Thrones" books.  I think I'm in the middle of book three.  When they are all one collection in e-book format it is difficult to keep track of them.

Do you feel like you're crawling along with no end in sight? I feel that way when reading the books individually; I can't imagine how it feels when you're reading them as a collection.

I haven't watched any of the TV series yet, and I don't think I have the stomach for it anyway.

@KathyB Yes, it does feel that way.  I've been reading for at least three months.  I think I am almost done with book #3.  Kindle says I'm 62% done with the four book series.  Then I will have book number 5 to read but that isn't part of this collection.  

I haven't always been devoting much time each day to reading but I do read at least a few pages every day.  And when I was on vacation I read a lot on the plane (when I wasn't catching up on movies).  I have been fortunate that except for one time I've been able to continuously renew the ebook from the library.  One time I had to wait a week or two but since then, even when I've reached the max number of renewals, the book has not had a hold on it so I didn't have to wait.  
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Jun 21, 2017, 10:57 AM
Quote from: KathyB on Jun 21, 2017, 08:04 AM
Quote from: DiveMilw on Jun 21, 2017, 07:19 AMFor the past few months I've been making my way through the "Game of Thrones" books.  I think I'm in the middle of book three.  When they are all one collection in e-book format it is difficult to keep track of them.

Do you feel like you're crawling along with no end in sight? I feel that way when reading the books individually; I can't imagine how it feels when you're reading them as a collection.

I haven't watched any of the TV series yet, and I don't think I have the stomach for it anyway.

When my attention span was better (i.e., 2010), I plowed through the whole series in a few weeks. I had to put the third book down almost halfway through out of exhaustion, but when I came back to it a week later they hit the Red Wedding scene and I couldn't stop reading it. That book gave me enough momentum to make it through the dull fourth book, after which I swore I was going to take a break before I read more. But two weeks later, when A Dance with Dragons came out, I couldn't stop myself from reading it. I was addicted.

Tom (DiveMilw) mentioned that seeing the TV show helped him follow the books, but I found that having read the books helped me follow the TV show. ;) Works both ways, I guess.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: DiveMilw on Jun 21, 2017, 10:58 AM
Quote from: Diane on Jun 21, 2017, 10:55 AM
Quote from: KathyB on Jun 21, 2017, 10:17 AM
Quote from: JustTheOneAnne on Jun 21, 2017, 09:18 AMI just finished Swing Time by Zadie Smith. I sort of enjoyed it.

So did I. Emphasis on "sort of."

Currently I'm reading The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti.

The best book I've read all year has been The Nix by Nathan Hill. I may post a long list of everything I've read in the past six months or so, if I get really bored (and if I can remember what I read when).

I also liked The Nix a lot.

Me too!  I liked it so much that when it came up for renewal and there was a wait list of library patrons who wanted to read it, I ended up purchasing the book!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: KathyB on Jun 21, 2017, 11:20 AM
Quote from: Diane on Jun 21, 2017, 10:55 AMThe book I am not recommending to people is A Little Life  by Hanya Yanagihara.   It starts out promisingly, but becomes misery porn, IMO.


I actually did like that book despite reading it at an extraordinarily inappropriate time in my life, and despite agreeing with Diane's general assessment about it being "misery porn."

(Period goes inside quotation marks because I live in the U.S., and that's the way we do things, even if it makes no logical sense.)
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: JustTheOneAnne on Jun 21, 2017, 02:18 PM
Quote from: KathyB on Jun 21, 2017, 11:20 AM
Quote from: Diane on Jun 21, 2017, 10:55 AMThe book I am not recommending to people is A Little Life  by Hanya Yanagihara.   It starts out promisingly, but becomes misery porn, IMO.


I actually did like that book despite reading it at an extraordinarily inappropriate time in my life, and despite agreeing with Diane's general assessment about it being "misery porn."

(Period goes inside quotation marks because I live in the U.S., and that's the way we do things, even if it makes no logical sense.)


I cried buckets during that book.  I don't think I really liked it and I wouldn't recommend it in good conscience to anyone, it was just too harrowing, but it was kind of a cathartic reading experience for me.

Kathy, re: Swing Time (I'm so not used to the board that I forgot to check back after I posted!), I remember loving On Beauty and White Teeth in college, but it's been so long since I read them that I'm really not sure.  I had high hopes for Swing Time but I didn't find it as consistently engaging as the other two Zadie Smith novels I've read.  I was really drawn into the story of the two girls as they were growing up, but I was less interested in Aimee and the trips to Africa. And did we ever learn the narrator's first name?  I was concerned that I had just forgotten it because I wasn't that interested in the book...
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Bobster on Jun 21, 2017, 08:23 PM
I'm having fun reading Wouldn't It Be Deadly by D.E. Ireland.

Post Pygmalion, Eliza Doolittle is a language teacher under the pompous Hungarian Nepommuck, taking credit in the papers for Eliza's transformation and causing Henry Higgin's wrath.

When Nepommuck is found stabbed after it has been announced that he was engaged to an older Marchoness, Eliza must find out what happened.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: iheartgranola on Jun 21, 2017, 08:28 PM
Quote from: Bobster on Jun 21, 2017, 08:23 PMI'm having fun reading Wouldn't It Be Deadly by D.E. Ireland.

Post Pygmalion, Eliza Doolittle is a language teacher under the pompous Hungarian Nepommuck, taking credit in the papers for Eliza's transformation and causing Henry Higgin's wrath.

When Nepommuck is found stabbed after it has been announced that he was engaged to an older Marchoness, Eliza must find out what happened.

That sounds like an absolute blast!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Jun 21, 2017, 10:14 PM
Quote from: Bakers_Wife on Jun 20, 2017, 08:28 PMCurrently reading some summer fun, Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes.

That's one of the many books I've started and not finished in recent months, not because I didn't like it but because I read a few pages and got distracted by something else. I really should get back to it. Even when my attention span is in wandering mode, I can usually get through a book by King (who just seems to get better and more readable as he gets older).
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Leighton on Jun 23, 2017, 02:27 PM
Quote from: KathyB on Jun 21, 2017, 10:17 AM
Quote from: JustTheOneAnne on Jun 21, 2017, 09:18 AMI just finished Swing Time by Zadie Smith. I sort of enjoyed it.


The best book I've read all year has been The Nix by Nathan Hill. I may post a long list of everything I've read in the past six months or so, if I get really bored (and if I can remember what I read when).

Ooooh it's good?  I've been thinking of getting it!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: KathyB on Jun 23, 2017, 03:42 PM
Quote from: Leighton on Jun 23, 2017, 02:27 PM
Quote from: KathyB on Jun 21, 2017, 10:17 AM
Quote from: JustTheOneAnne on Jun 21, 2017, 09:18 AMI just finished Swing Time by Zadie Smith. I sort of enjoyed it.


The best book I've read all year has been The Nix by Nathan Hill. I may post a long list of everything I've read in the past six months or so, if I get really bored (and if I can remember what I read when).

Ooooh it's good?  I've been thinking of getting it!

Assuming you're talking about The Nix instead of Swing Time, I say go for it. It's worth having a copy for the zillion times you'll want to refer back to it.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: iheartgranola on Jun 27, 2017, 09:29 AM
Finished up Big Little Lies the other night and have moved on for a quick read through The Martian Chronicles
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: MartinG on Jun 27, 2017, 02:00 PM
Into the Thickening Fog by Andrei Gelasimov. A misanthropic film and theatre director returns to his sub-zero home town and confronts his many and varied demons. Dark and funny and weird and poetical. Well, Russian I guess.  :)
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: KathyB on Jun 29, 2017, 11:17 AM
I finally finished The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley (it seemed like it was never going to end) and am now reading Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: iheartgranola on Jun 29, 2017, 04:10 PM
I decided to stick with Mr Bradbury and reread The Illustrated Man much to my wife's chagrin as she's been waiting to discuss Augustine Burroughs Lust and Wonder. I just haven't been in the mood for a memoir lately!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: KathyB on Jul 05, 2017, 11:09 AM
If anyone wants a really quick read, try Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. It's a novel(ette) about two lovers in an unspecified war-torn country in the Middle East, and apparently there are doors that are portals to other parts of the world, and would-be refugees can use them for a price. Like a much more sophisticated (not to mention instantaneous and safer) version of boats crossing the Mediterranean.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Leighton on Jul 05, 2017, 11:55 AM
Quote from: KathyB on Jul 05, 2017, 11:09 AMIf anyone wants a really quick read, try Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. It's a novel(ette) about two lovers in an unspecified war-torn country in the Middle East, and apparently there are doors that are portals to other parts of the world, and would-be refugees can use them for a price. Like a much more sophisticated (not to mention instantaneous and safer) version of boats crossing the Mediterranean.

Oooh another one I wanted to read!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: AmyG on Jul 05, 2017, 05:32 PM
Quote from: KathyB on Jul 05, 2017, 11:09 AMIf anyone wants a really quick read, try Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. It's a novel(ette) about two lovers in an unspecified war-torn country in the Middle East, and apparently there are doors that are portals to other parts of the world, and would-be refugees can use them for a price. Like a much more sophisticated (not to mention instantaneous and safer) version of boats crossing the Mediterranean.

That sounds fascinating!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: DiveMilw on Jul 06, 2017, 02:01 PM
Quote from: KathyB on Jul 05, 2017, 11:09 AMIf anyone wants a really quick read, try Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. It's a novel(ette) about two lovers in an unspecified war-torn country in the Middle East, and apparently there are doors that are portals to other parts of the world, and would-be refugees can use them for a price. Like a much more sophisticated (not to mention instantaneous and safer) version of boats crossing the Mediterranean.

That sounds really interesting.  The doors remind me of "The Adjustment Bureau" where if you are wearing a particular hat you can cause a door to open into another part of the world. 
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: DiveMilw on Jul 06, 2017, 03:28 PM
Quote from: DiveMilw on Jul 06, 2017, 02:01 PM
Quote from: KathyB on Jul 05, 2017, 11:09 AMIf anyone wants a really quick read, try Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. It's a novel(ette) about two lovers in an unspecified war-torn country in the Middle East, and apparently there are doors that are portals to other parts of the world, and would-be refugees can use them for a price. Like a much more sophisticated (not to mention instantaneous and safer) version of boats crossing the Mediterranean.

That sounds really interesting.  The doors remind me of "The Adjustment Bureau" where if you are wearing a particular hat you can cause a door to open into another part of the world. 

I have placed a hold on the e-book version at my library.  They also had regular books but they were all checked out as well. 

In other library news my local library's website got hacked this morning.  I was wondering why I couldn't bring it up to check the hours at the various branches.  They said it has been down since about 7:30 a.m.  I didn't think to ask but I wonder how long it will be down and what damage was done.  :(
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: JustTheOneAnne on Jul 07, 2017, 11:45 PM
I picked up a copy of Isherwood's Berlin novels--Mr. Norris Changes Trains and Goodbye to Berlin--and I'm slowly making my way through!  (Only slowly because after a day of German class I never want to see a written word again, so reading isn't top priority.)

It's fun to read the non-Sally Bowles stuff and recognize characters who made it into the film version of Cabaret in some form. :)
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: DiveMilw on Jul 10, 2017, 06:36 PM
Neil Gaiman recommends "London Labour and the London Poor" by Henry Mayhew.  In his talk/interview tonight he said he re-reads it at least once a decade.  
I'm tying to find an e-book version that has the complete set.  (It was originally published as a series of articles.)  It reminds me of "Working" by Studs Terkle  

Wikipedia article about the book.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Labour_and_the_London_Poor)
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Bobster on Jul 10, 2017, 07:33 PM
Quote from: iheartgranola on Jun 21, 2017, 08:28 PM
Quote from: Bobster on Jun 21, 2017, 08:23 PMI'm having fun reading Wouldn't It Be Deadly by D.E. Ireland.

Post Pygmalion, Eliza Doolittle is a language teacher under the pompous Hungarian Nepommuck, taking credit in the papers for Eliza's transformation and causing Henry Higgin's wrath.

When Nepommuck is found stabbed after it has been announced that he was engaged to an older Marchoness, Eliza must find out what happened.

That sounds like an absolute blast!

It was.  Now I'm reading the 2nd book, Move Your Blooming Corpse.  Fun so far.

Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: mrssondheim on Jul 11, 2017, 07:09 PM
I have gotten way out of the practice of reading books.  I used to be an avid reader, but it has been years since then. I have time now to read a book and I am at a loss as to what to start with.  I used to LOVE actor biographies.  Actors such as Joan Crawford, Lauren Bacall, or Carol Burnett. 

Anyone have any recommendations?? 
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: KathyB on Jul 11, 2017, 07:54 PM
Quote from: mamarose on Jul 11, 2017, 07:09 PMI have gotten way out of the practice of reading books.  I used to be an avid reader, but it has been years since then. I have time now to read a book and I am at a loss as to what to start with.  I used to LOVE actor biographies.  Actors such as Joan Crawford, Lauren Bacall, or Carol Burnett. 

Anyone have any recommendations?? 

I just finished Gabourey Sidibe's This Is Just My Face, and while she isn't quite like Joan Crawford or Lauren Bacall, she's got a fun way of telling a story, especially about when she was a phone sex worker. You might enjoy that book. I bet the audiobook would be a hoot.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: mrssondheim on Jul 11, 2017, 08:17 PM
Quote from: KathyB on Jul 11, 2017, 07:54 PM
Quote from: mamarose on Jul 11, 2017, 07:09 PMI have gotten way out of the practice of reading books.  I used to be an avid reader, but it has been years since then. I have time now to read a book and I am at a loss as to what to start with.  I used to LOVE actor biographies.  Actors such as Joan Crawford, Lauren Bacall, or Carol Burnett. 

Anyone have any recommendations?? 

I just finished Gabourey Sidibe's This Is Just My Face, and while she isn't quite like Joan Crawford or Lauren Bacall, she's got a fun way of telling a story, especially about when she was a phone sex worker. You might enjoy that book. I bet the audiobook would be a hoot.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I will look into it, though I am not a fan of hers at all. 
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: artscallion on Jul 15, 2017, 04:36 AM
Quote from: mamarose on Jul 11, 2017, 07:09 PMI have gotten way out of the practice of reading books.  I used to be an avid reader, but it has been years since then. I have time now to read a book and I am at a loss as to what to start with.  I used to LOVE actor biographies.  Actors such as Joan Crawford, Lauren Bacall, or Carol Burnett. 

Anyone have any recommendations?? 

Have you read My Way of Life by Joan Crawford. I first heard about it from the recent Bette and Joan miniseries. She wrote it near the end of her life as a sort of guide for the everyday woman to gracious (and correct) living. She gives advice on giving parties, decorating, dieting, how women should act, and basically what the world looks like through the hugely warped prism of Joan Crawford.

While it's not the best book, it's fascinating in that it gives a real insight into the way she really thinks about things. one bit advises you join a group for exercise to help stay motivated, and that being in such a group may causes a certain competition that will yield great results, but that being skinny is worth losing a few fat friends.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: mrssondheim on Jul 15, 2017, 08:53 PM
Quote from: artscallion on Jul 15, 2017, 04:36 AM
Quote from: mamarose on Jul 11, 2017, 07:09 PMI have gotten way out of the practice of reading books.  I used to be an avid reader, but it has been years since then. I have time now to read a book and I am at a loss as to what to start with.  I used to LOVE actor biographies.  Actors such as Joan Crawford, Lauren Bacall, or Carol Burnett. 

Anyone have any recommendations?? 

Have you read My Way of Life by Joan Crawford. I first heard about it from the recent Bette and Joan miniseries. She wrote it near the end of her life as a sort of guide for the everyday woman to gracious (and correct) living. She gives advice on giving parties, decorating, dieting, how women should act, and basically what the world looks like through the hugely warped prism of Joan Crawford.

While it's not the best book, it's fascinating in that it gives a real insight into the way she really thinks about things. one bit advises you join a group for exercise to help stay motivated, and that being in such a group may causes a certain competition that will yield great results, but that being skinny is worth losing a few fat friends.

That sounds right up my alley!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Gordonb on Jul 16, 2017, 04:39 AM
House of Spies the 17th book in Daniel Silva's spy series featuring art restorer and Israeli agent, Gabriel Allon. One of those authors that I buy on release (kindle that is) as I know I will enjoy it.


 [attach name=house+of+spies.jpg type=image/jpeg]120[/attach]
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Bobster on Jul 16, 2017, 06:22 AM
Quote from: artscallion on Jul 15, 2017, 04:36 AM
Quote from: mamarose on Jul 11, 2017, 07:09 PMI have gotten way out of the practice of reading books.  I used to be an avid reader, but it has been years since then. I have time now to read a book and I am at a loss as to what to start with.  I used to LOVE actor biographies.  Actors such as Joan Crawford, Lauren Bacall, or Carol Burnett. 

Anyone have any recommendations?? 

Have you read My Way of Life by Joan Crawford. I first heard about it from the recent Bette and Joan miniseries. She wrote it near the end of her life as a sort of guide for the everyday woman to gracious (and correct) living. She gives advice on giving parties, decorating, dieting, how women should act, and basically what the world looks like through the hugely warped prism of Joan Crawford.

While it's not the best book, it's fascinating in that it gives a real insight into the way she really thinks about things. one bit advises you join a group for exercise to help stay motivated, and that being in such a group may causes a certain competition that will yield great results, but that being skinny is worth losing a few fat friends.

Despite that last rude thought, it's a fascinating read.

She also did an audiobook and it's all up on YouTube.  I've downloaded it by chapters if someone wants.

Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: mrssondheim on Jul 16, 2017, 08:58 AM
Quote from: Bobster on Jul 16, 2017, 06:22 AM
Quote from: artscallion on Jul 15, 2017, 04:36 AM
Quote from: mamarose on Jul 11, 2017, 07:09 PMI have gotten way out of the practice of reading books.  I used to be an avid reader, but it has been years since then. I have time now to read a book and I am at a loss as to what to start with.  I used to LOVE actor biographies.  Actors such as Joan Crawford, Lauren Bacall, or Carol Burnett. 

Anyone have any recommendations?? 

Have you read My Way of Life by Joan Crawford. I first heard about it from the recent Bette and Joan miniseries. She wrote it near the end of her life as a sort of guide for the everyday woman to gracious (and correct) living. She gives advice on giving parties, decorating, dieting, how women should act, and basically what the world looks like through the hugely warped prism of Joan Crawford.

While it's not the best book, it's fascinating in that it gives a real insight into the way she really thinks about things. one bit advises you join a group for exercise to help stay motivated, and that being in such a group may causes a certain competition that will yield great results, but that being skinny is worth losing a few fat friends.

Despite that last rude thought, it's a fascinating read.

She also did an audiobook and it's all up on YouTube.  I've downloaded it by chapters if someone wants.


Yes please!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Bobster on Jul 17, 2017, 09:32 PM
Quote from: mamarose on Jul 16, 2017, 08:58 AM
Quote from: Bobster on Jul 16, 2017, 06:22 AM
Quote from: artscallion on Jul 15, 2017, 04:36 AM
Quote from: mamarose on Jul 11, 2017, 07:09 PMI have gotten way out of the practice of reading books.  I used to be an avid reader, but it has been years since then. I have time now to read a book and I am at a loss as to what to start with.  I used to LOVE actor biographies.  Actors such as Joan Crawford, Lauren Bacall, or Carol Burnett. 

Anyone have any recommendations?? 

Have you read My Way of Life by Joan Crawford. I first heard about it from the recent Bette and Joan miniseries. She wrote it near the end of her life as a sort of guide for the everyday woman to gracious (and correct) living. She gives advice on giving parties, decorating, dieting, how women should act, and basically what the world looks like through the hugely warped prism of Joan Crawford.

While it's not the best book, it's fascinating in that it gives a real insight into the way she really thinks about things. one bit advises you join a group for exercise to help stay motivated, and that being in such a group may causes a certain competition that will yield great results, but that being skinny is worth losing a few fat friends.

Despite that last rude thought, it's a fascinating read.

She also did an audiobook and it's all up on YouTube.  I've downloaded it by chapters if someone wants.

Yes please!

You can download here   https://www.sendspace.com/file/a88flq    It was originally on five records so there are 10 clips/sides.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: artscallion on Jul 18, 2017, 04:01 AM
Quote from: Bobster on Jul 17, 2017, 09:32 PMYou can download here   https://www.sendspace.com/file/a88flq    It was originally on five records so there are 10 clips/sides.

Thanks, Bobs! It'll be awesome to hear it in her own voice.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: AmyG on Jul 18, 2017, 08:21 AM
Wow. Thanks @Bobster. I definitely want to hear this. I had heard about the book but never read it. What did you guys think of Feud. I enjoyed it immensely but I can see how it might be polarizing to long-time fans of either of the ladies.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: mrssondheim on Jul 18, 2017, 08:51 AM
Thank you Bobster!!!  Very excited about this.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Bobster on Jul 19, 2017, 07:57 PM
Enjoy you all!

I personally loved Feud even with its "flaws" or "errors". 
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: iheartgranola on Jul 22, 2017, 09:18 AM
Current audiobook for my commute: Absolute Power by David Baldacci
Current "paper" [actually kindle] book for all other times: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Next up will be either Where'd You Go, Bernadette?, which @Diane recommended to me years ago but I never got a chance to read or Eddie Izzard's new memoir Believe Me. I may need to forgo both of those for a quick readthrough of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: artscallion on Jul 22, 2017, 11:27 AM
Quote from: iheartgranola on Jul 22, 2017, 09:18 AMNext up will be either Where'd You Go, Bernadette?, which @Diane recommended to me years ago but I never got a chance to read or Eddie Izzard's new memoir Believe Me. I may need to forgo both of those for a quick readthrough of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

I also recommend Where'd You Go, Bernadette? Very enjoyable read. Recently saw Izzard on Colbert's show. Thanks for reminding me about his book!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Gordonb on Jul 30, 2017, 05:45 AM

"To Kill the President" by Sam Bourne

"The United States has elected a volatile demagogue as president, backed by his ruthless chief strategist, Crawford 'Mac' McNamara.
When a war of words with the North Korean regime spirals out of control and the President comes perilously close to launching a nuclear attack, it's clear someone has to act, or the world will be reduced to ashes....."

An implausible premise surely .....
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Leighton on Aug 10, 2017, 02:33 PM
Quote from: Gordonb on Jul 30, 2017, 05:45 AM"To Kill the President" by Sam Bourne

"The United States has elected a volatile demagogue as president, backed by his ruthless chief strategist, Crawford 'Mac' McNamara.
When a war of words with the North Korean regime spirals out of control and the President comes perilously close to launching a nuclear attack, it's clear someone has to act, or the world will be reduced to ashes....."

An implausible premise surely .....
How is that?! I bought it but haven't read it yet!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Aug 10, 2017, 02:45 PM
Quote from: Gordonb on Jul 30, 2017, 05:45 AM"To Kill the President" by Sam Bourne

"The United States has elected a volatile demagogue as president, backed by his ruthless chief strategist, Crawford 'Mac' McNamara.
When a war of words with the North Korean regime spirals out of control and the President comes perilously close to launching a nuclear attack, it's clear someone has to act, or the world will be reduced to ashes....."

An implausible premise surely .....
With recent events, this is getting wildly close to reality. Maybe I should read the book to find out how it's going to play out...
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Leighton on Aug 10, 2017, 03:48 PM
I have enjoyed three books recently, and would recommend all of them:

Eleven Kinds of Loneliness, by Richard Yates
Insomniac City, by Bill Hayes
The Long-Winded Lady (Notes from The New Yorker), by Maeve Brennan
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: KathyB on Aug 13, 2017, 07:02 AM
Plot summary of Marlena by Julie Buntin:

Fifteen-year-old Cat and her family move to northern Michigan, next door to seventeen-year-old Marlena. Cat and Marlena smoke and drink together. Marlena takes pills. Cat and Marlena smoke some more and drink some more. They skip school and smoke and drink. They party. Marlena dies. Cat reminisces as she smokes and drinks.

I didn't enjoy this book very much.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: KathyB on Aug 19, 2017, 04:34 PM
In contrast to Marlena:

The Children's Crusade by Ann Packer is glorious--maybe even the second-best book I've read this year. It's a novel about a family, with chapters alternating between third-person (as the family is growing up in the 1970s) and first-person (each member of the family in 2006). This is a book I don't want to end (I'm about 85% of the way through it).
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Diane on Aug 19, 2017, 07:40 PM
Quote from: KathyB on Aug 19, 2017, 04:34 PMIn contrast to Marlena:

The Children's Crusade by Ann Packer is glorious--maybe even the second-best book I've read this year. It's a novel about a family, with chapters alternating between third-person (as the family is growing up in the 1970s) and first-person (each member of the family in 2006). This is a book I don't want to end (I'm about 85% of the way through it).
What was the best book?
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: KathyB on Aug 20, 2017, 06:07 AM
Quote from: Diane on Aug 19, 2017, 07:40 PM
Quote from: KathyB on Aug 19, 2017, 04:34 PMIn contrast to Marlena:

The Children's Crusade by Ann Packer is glorious--maybe even the second-best book I've read this year. It's a novel about a family, with chapters alternating between third-person (as the family is growing up in the 1970s) and first-person (each member of the family in 2006). This is a book I don't want to end (I'm about 85% of the way through it).
What was the best book?
The Nix by Nathan Hill.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Leighton on Aug 20, 2017, 12:26 PM
On to Desperate Characters, by Paula Fox ... enjoying the creeping sense of dread so far!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Aug 20, 2017, 02:19 PM
Two books that I'm halfway through and swear to God that I'm going to finish:

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

Hawley is the showrunner on the TV show Fargo and this is what he was doing before he got into television. The novel is about the crash of a private jet and opens cold, with no explanation of what caused the crash or even why the flight was taking place, only a depiction of the two survivors, a struggling 30-something painter and the son of the plane's wealthy owner (the Rupert Murdoch-like CEO of a Fox News-style TV channel), fighting to swim back to New York from the crash site in the Atlantic. The backstory -- what happened "before the fall," as it were -- is told through flashbacks interspersed with a plot thread about gradual suspicion being cast via a Bill O'Reilly-style TV news host on the older survivor as the person responsible for the explosion that apparently downed the plane. It's a novel of character as much as a thriller, much like Hawley's TV show. From what I've read so far, I recommend it.

Afterlife by Marcus Sakey

Sakey is a crime writer who's begun turning to light fantasy/science fiction designed for readers who don't follow those genres. His Brilliance trilogy, about mounting ethnic tension and eventual civil war between normal humans and a breed of super-intelligent mutants who have mental powers, like pattern matching and body-language reading, that normal people don't have, was the best series of thrillers I've read in, well, ever, gripping because both the good and bad characters were drawn in shades of gray that made them believable and often sympathetic. Afterlife is about an FBI agent murdered by a serial killer who finds himself in a kind of purgatory that's an "echo" of the real world -- all of the inanimate objects are present without living beings -- populated by other dead people who died relatively young. So far it hasn't gripped me, but the Brlliance novels didn't begin to grip until about halfway through, so I still have hope.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: KathyB on Nov 08, 2017, 04:17 PM
Some books I've recently finished:

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. A novel about two families in Shaker Heights, Ohio in the late 1990s. That makes it sound like a lot of books out there, but Ng is an engrossing writer, and I couldn't put this down. The setting is as much a character in the novel as any of the actual characters. Highly recommend.

The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson. Another novel about a family, this time from Iowa, over a 30-year period. Also recommended, but not as highly.

The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood. Kind of an odd premise here, where the setting is a dystopian planned community, where the residents alternate between living in prison and living in regular housing from month to month. This way, everyone shares housing, jobs, transportation, etc. I kept thinking this might be something Chris L. might enjoy (mainly because something about it reminded me of Marcus Sakey's Brilliance)--except I know that Atwood is Not a Favored Author. It was enjoyable for about the first half, but then it started being more about plot and less about setup, and it wasn't as interesting.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Nov 08, 2017, 04:39 PM
Quote from: KathyB on Nov 08, 2017, 04:17 PMThe Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood. Kind of an odd premise here, where the setting is a dystopian planned community, where the residents alternate between living in prison and living in regular housing from month to month. This way, everyone shares housing, jobs, transportation, etc. I kept thinking this might be something Chris L. might enjoy (mainly because something about it reminded me of Marcus Sakey's Brilliance)--except I know that Atwood is Not a Favored Author. It was enjoyable for about the first half, but then it started being more about plot and less about setup, and it wasn't as interesting.
I didn't know you'd read Brilliance.

Yes, after three attempts to read Atwood's books, I've come to regard her as an author who can take a great idea and strangle every ounce of life out of it in the name of Art. ;) However, I'm always game for another try. Otherwise, I would have stopped after my first Atwood book!
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: KathyB on Dec 02, 2017, 03:04 PM
Currently I'm reading Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine by Joe Hagan, because I heard an interview with the author on NPR, and the book sounded interesting.

I am wondering how many drugs one person can take before being seriously messed up for life, both physically and emotionally. There has to be at least one mention of drug use on every page. I have to say I'm glad to not be famous enough to have ever had the occasion to get in a car with either Wenner or Hunter S. Thompson (or Annie Leibovitz) driving. There are also a lot of affairs happening, but they only happen maybe once every four pages. ;)

Personally I'm more interested in how Rolling Stone evolved from a small newspaper to a large full-color tabloid with award-winning journalism and photography, but that's not nearly as juicy as the drugs and sex, naturally. :)
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Dec 02, 2017, 03:17 PM
Quote from: KathyB on Dec 02, 2017, 03:04 PMCurrently I'm reading Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine by Joe Hagan, because I heard an interview with the author on NPR, and the book sounded interesting.

I am wondering how many drugs one person can take before being seriously messed up for life, both physically and emotionally. There has to be at least one mention of drug use on every page. I have to say I'm glad to not be famous enough to have ever had the occasion to get in a car with either Wenner or Hunter S. Thompson (or Annie Leibovitz) driving. There are also a lot of affairs happening, but they only happen maybe once every four pages. ;)

Personally I'm more interested in how Rolling Stone evolved from a small newspaper to a large full-color tabloid with award-winning journalism and photography, but that's not nearly as juicy as the drugs and sex, naturally. :)
This is what I tell myself every time a young(ish) rock performer dies: I don't have to worry because they were doing a hell of a lot more drugs than I was. Though that still doesn't explain the incredible resilience of Keith Richards.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Mar 25, 2018, 05:14 PM
Dan Brown's Origin -- I had promised myself that I was never going to read anything by Dan Brown, but huge posters for this book followed me all over the United Kingdom last fall, looming out of bookstore windows in every town except Oxford, where the main bookstore chose to highlight Allan Hollinghurst instead. (I think Oxford feels that Dan Brown is a bit beneath them. I agree with them.)

I'll give Brown credit for one thing and one thing only. He knows how to keep a reader turning pages. He doesn't do this by creating memorable characters, ones that you care about, or by writing in a compelling style, but by the simple trick of withholding information. From the beginning he makes it clear what that information will be about. It's such a large, audacious and frankly ridiculous subject that he's withholding information on that I kept reading just to see if, when it was eventually revealed, the revelation would be worth the buildup.

It wasn't. It didn't even come close. The whole premise seemed absurd throughout -- at times, even Brown's characters had to admit it was absurd -- and at the end it turns out to have been a grand fake-out, a huge Maguffin that exists only to justify a mediocre chase thriller. (Another thing I'll give Brown credit for is that he know it's important to keep putting obstacles in the path of the protagonist, even when those obstacles are rabbits that he pulls out of his threadbare but bottomless hat.)

But at least I can say I've read a Dan Brown novel. It's not much to brag about, but the next time I say something insulting about Mr. Brown, I'll have evidence to back me up.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Leighton on Mar 26, 2018, 07:48 AM
Currently reading Reservoir 13, which is quite wonderful.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Mar 26, 2018, 08:35 AM
Quote from: Leighton on Mar 26, 2018, 07:48 AMCurrently reading Reservoir 13, which is quite wonderful.
Looks interesting and might be worth reading. But -- and here's the key question -- is it better than Dan Brown? ;) 
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Leighton on Mar 27, 2018, 11:18 AM
Yes, and as much a page turner (in a very different way!)
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: DiveMilw on Jun 28, 2018, 06:32 AM
Quote from: Chris L on Mar 25, 2018, 05:14 PMDan Brown's Origin -- I had promised myself that I was never going to read anything by Dan Brown, but huge posters for this book followed me all over the United Kingdom last fall, looming out of bookstore windows in every town except Oxford, where the main bookstore chose to highlight Allan Hollinghurst instead. (I think Oxford feels that Dan Brown is a bit beneath them. I agree with them.)

I'll give Brown credit for one thing and one thing only. He knows how to keep a reader turning pages. He doesn't do this by creating memorable characters, ones that you care about, or by writing in a compelling style, but by the simple trick of withholding information. From the beginning he makes it clear what that information will be about. It's such a large, audacious and frankly ridiculous subject that he's withholding information on that I kept reading just to see if, when it was eventually revealed, the revelation would be worth the buildup.

It wasn't. It didn't even come close. The whole premise seemed absurd throughout -- at times, even Brown's characters had to admit it was absurd -- and at the end it turns out to have been a grand fake-out, a huge Maguffin that exists only to justify a mediocre chase thriller. (Another thing I'll give Brown credit for is that he know it's important to keep putting obstacles in the path of the protagonist, even when those obstacles are rabbits that he pulls out of his threadbare but bottomless hat.)

But at least I can say I've read a Dan Brown novel. It's not much to brag about, but the next time I say something insulting about Mr. Brown, I'll have evidence to back me up.
The ebook version of this finally became available to me.  I had forgotten specifically why Chris didn't like the book but I did remember that I wanted to try to out for myself.  I got four mini-chapters into the book before I decided I hated the style and it was wasting my time.  Each of the four chapters only existed to tell us that some guy was going to make a big, no, HUGE announcement at an event he was hosting.  As I started the fifth chapter to became clear that there was a good chance this was just another chapter saying the exact same thing.  Not willing to be strung along for even one more page I returned to the Rabbi Small mystery series I had been reading before "Origin" became available.  
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Jun 28, 2018, 08:17 AM
Quote from: DiveMilw on Jun 28, 2018, 06:32 AMThe ebook version of this finally became available to me.  I had forgotten specifically why Chris didn't like the book but I did remember that I wanted to try to out for myself.  I got four mini-chapters into the book before I decided I hated the style and it was wasting my time.  Each of the four chapters only existed to tell us that some guy was going to make a big, no, HUGE announcement at an event he was hosting.  As I started the fifth chapter to became clear that there was a good chance this was just another chapter saying the exact same thing.  Not willing to be strung along for even one more page I returned to the Rabbi Small mystery series I had been reading before "Origin" became available. 
Rabbi Small? Is that something new or the old On Monday the Rabbi Moved His Bowels series?

It's almost absurd to call Dan Brown's style a "style." He writes in exclamation points. Everything! Is! Hugely! Important! And, yes, there really isn't a reason to read the rest, but I said the hell with it and went along for the ride. At least there were some good descriptions of architecture. Now, if @AmyG and I visit Spain (as we plan to at some point), I'll reread Brown's description of Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia to see if it's accurate. Brown made me want to see it (as did The Alan Parson Project's album Gaudi, which actually has a song called "La Sagrada Familia"). (Also, remember how on Fringe there was a skyscraper in the alternate universe's version of Manhattan that had been designed by Gaudi?)
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: DiveMilw on Jul 01, 2018, 04:27 PM
Quote from: Chris L on Jun 28, 2018, 08:17 AMRabbi Small? Is that something new or the old On Monday the Rabbi Moved His Bowels series?


I'm not sure where I heard about this series but it was in the past couple of months.  I requested my library to get the ebook and they did!
[attach name=rabbi+small.png type=image/png]374[/attach]
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Chris L on Jul 01, 2018, 05:53 PM
Quote from: DiveMilw on Jul 01, 2018, 04:27 PM
Quote from: Chris L on Jun 28, 2018, 08:17 AMRabbi Small? Is that something new or the old On Monday the Rabbi Moved His Bowels series?


I'm not sure where I heard about this series but it was in the past couple of months.  I requested my library to get the ebook and they did!
[attach name=rabbi+small.png type=image/png]374[/attach]
Yeah, those are the books. They were bestsellers back in the late 60s/early 70s. I think I started one and never finished it, but now i can't remember. How do they hold up after all these years? (I guess pretty well if you got all four out of the library.)
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Leighton on Jul 20, 2018, 12:52 PM
I finished Stoner fairly recently, which was utterly gorgeous and utterly heartbreaking, and I'm mid-way through The Immortalists, which I am devouring.  It is really, really good.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: KathyB on Jul 20, 2018, 04:15 PM
Quote from: Leighton on Jul 20, 2018, 12:52 PMI finished Stoner fairly recently, which was utterly gorgeous and utterly heartbreaking, and I'm mid-way through The Immortalists, which I am devouring.  It is really, really good.
I really liked The Immortalists. (It's by Chloe Benjamin, for anyone who wants to look it up.) It's about four siblings who, as children, were told the dates of their deaths by a psychic.
Currently reading There There by Tommy Orange, which is OK. Nothing to rave about, but by no means terrible.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Leighton on Jul 22, 2018, 01:37 PM
I finished The Immortalists.  It was utterly heartbreaking, and beautifully written.  Chloe Benjamin is a major talent.

I will be moving on to Ottessa Moshfegh's collection of short stories, 'Homesick for Another World' shortly, once I've finished a very quick re-read of RL Stine's The Babysitter, one of the early Point Horror series.  I find them a very comforting read, taking me back to my early teenage years.  I think of it like a palette cleanser! ;)
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: DiveMilw on Aug 08, 2018, 02:35 PM
I haven't read any of these but they were talking about them on the radio today.  Since I come here to find new book titles to read I figured this would be a good place for me to store the list. 
(And share it with all of you!)
Here's a link in case you'd like to listen to the broacast.
http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/08/08/border-novels-films-documentaries


Recommended Border Novels, Films And Documentaries
from Claudia Sadowski-Smith
"The River Flows North (https://www.amazon.com/River-Flows-North-Graciela-Limon/dp/1558855858/?tag=hereandnowbooks-20)," by Graciela Limón (2009)
This novel by Latina writer Graciela Limón follows the journeys of Mexican and Salvadoran migrants, and their coyote, across the Arizona desert from Sonora, Mexico.
"The Guardians (https://www.amazon.com/Guardians-Novel-Ana-Castillo/dp/0812975715/?tag=hereandnowbooks-20)," by Ana Castillo (2007)
Set in a fictional New Mexican border town near El Paso, Texas, this novel by Latina writer Ana Castillo explores how a border crosser's disappearance affects his U.S. family and the local community.
"Tropic of Orange (https://www.amazon.com/Tropic-Orange-Karen-Tei-Yamashita/dp/1566894867/?tag=hereandnowbooks-20)," by Karen Tei Yamashita (1997)
Set in Los Angeles and Mexico, this magical realist novel by Japanese American author Karen Tei Yamashita represents the interconnected lives of seven diverse protagonists, many of whom cross and re-cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Almanac of the Dead (https://www.amazon.com/Almanac-Dead-Leslie-Marmon-Silko/dp/0140173196/?tag=hereandnowbooks-20)," by Leslie Marmon Silko (1991)
Set mainly in Tucson, Arizona, and Mexico, this novel by Laguna Pueblo author Leslie Marmon Silko represents the historical and contemporary relationship of indigenous peoples to U.S. borders.
"Borderline (https://www.amazon.com/Borderline-Janette-Turner-Hospital/dp/052524350X/?tag=hereandnowbooks-20)," by Janette Turner Hospital (1985)
The novel by Australian-born writer Janette Turner Hospital fictionalizes the reach of the 1980s sanctuary movement to the U.S.-Canada border.
"El Norte" (Dir. Gregory Nava, 1983, 1985 Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay)
This British-U.S. drama film follows two Mayan siblings, fleeing the Guatemalan civil war, on their journey north through Mexico and across the border to Los Angeles.
"Sin Nombre" (Dir. Cary Joji Fukunaga, 2009, 2009 Sundance Film Festival Excellence in Direction & Excellence in Cinematography)
This U.S.-Mexican thriller represents the journeys of a Mexican gang member trying to escape his dangerous lifestyle and a Honduran girl traveling with her recently deported father through Mexico to the U.S. border.
"Under the Same Moon/La Misma Luna" (Dir. Patricia Riggen, 2009)
This U.S.-Mexican film tells the story of a 9-year old Mexican boy's search for his mother who works undocumented in Los Angeles.
"Which Way Home?" (Dir. Rebecca Cammisa, 2009, 2010 Emmy and 2010 Academy Award nominee)
This U.S. documentary follows unaccompanied Honduran, Mexican and Salvadoran children on their long and treacherous voyage through Mexico to the U.S. border in their quest to unite with family members or to find work to support their families at home.
"The Golden Dream/La Jaula de Oro" (Dir. Diego Quemada-Diez, 2013, Golden Ástor for Best Film, 2013 Mar de Plata International Film Festival)

Based on interviews conducted by the director, this Mexican film tells the stories of four teenagers (three Guatemalan and one Tzotzil-speaking Mexican from Chiapas) on their dangerous journey through Mexico to cross the border into the United States.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: scenicdesign71 on May 12, 2020, 07:31 AM
It's been several years since the last time I read the original Fun Home graphic novel, so I've been rereading it in anticipation of the Victory Gardens livestream (https://victorygardens.org/event/fun-home-streaming/) which starts today and runs through Sunday May 24th.

I've got it in paperback, but when I looked it up on Amazon for a friend who's planning to watch it "with" me (almost 200 blocks apart) next weekend, I discovered that it can currently be read for free on Kindle (which also has an easy web viewer, if you don't have an actual Kindle device and don't feel like downloading either the desktop or mobile Kindle app) by anyone who has Amazon Prime:

https://www.amazon.com/Fun-Home-Tragicomic-Alison-Bechdel-ebook/dp/B00DYEC8MC

And if you don't have Prime, the Kindle version only costs $2.99.  Personally, I find the book well worth owning in paper, but if dead trees just aren't your thing, you can't argue with these prices.

Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: Leighton on May 12, 2020, 11:19 AM
I'm about a third of a way through 'The Nix', which is utterly gripping, and very moving.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: scenicdesign71 on Jun 18, 2020, 08:39 AM
Scenic geekery: the other day I rediscovered a book that was given to me for Christmas three or four years ago, about turn-of-the-(twentieth-)century scenic art in the opera houses, town halls and granges of (mostly) small-town New England:  a coffee-table book (https://www.amazon.com/Suspended-Worlds-Historic-Theater-Northern/dp/1567925413) filled with century-old painted show curtains and backdrops that have been restored over the past twenty years by a group of dedicated conservators (http://www.curtainswithoutborders.org) leading a small army of volunteers.

If you really want to geek out on the conservation process itself, their website includes a half-hour video (https://vimeo.com/197555253) on the subject that held my inner techie-nerd in rapt fascination (although, fair warning: as someone with experience, in my own not-unrelated line of work, doing lots of things that are recognizably fairly close-ish to -- or at least not-too-far-off-ish from -- many of the processes described here, there were parts of this video where even I got a bit lost trying to follow all the technical details).

I would recommend the book, though, to anyone even vaguely or tangentially interested in the subject (theatre, painting, Americana, ...?).  You don't have to be a geek to appreciate the pretty pictures.

51xlTl-HifL._SY370_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg (https://www.amazon.com/Suspended-Worlds-Historic-Theater-Northern/dp/1567925413)

Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: DiveMilw on Jul 21, 2022, 07:26 AM
I haven't read it yet but I did buy it.  The Kindle version of "Rita Moreno: A Memoir" is on sale at Amazon for $1.99.
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: KathyB on Jul 21, 2022, 04:31 PM
Quote from: DiveMilw on Jul 21, 2022, 07:26 AMI haven't read it yet but I did buy it.  The Kindle version of "Rita Moreno: A Memoir" is on sale at Amazon for $1.99.
Thank you! I bought it also. It's next on my list after I finish the book I'm currently reading (Malibu Rising, by Taylor Jenkins Reid).
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: DiveMilw on Jul 21, 2022, 11:37 PM


I'm currently reading "Midnight Sun" by Ramsey Campbell.  I'm enjoying it although it is taking me a long time to finish it.  
Title: Re: What are you reading?
Post by: scenicdesign71 on Jul 23, 2022, 01:28 PM
I was just on the phone with a friend commiserating about how little actual (book-)reading either of us does anymore.  Magazines, newspapers, websites by the acre, but books not so much.

But I recently bought The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (https://www.amazon.com/Curious-Incident-Dog-Night-Time/dp/1400032717), the 2003 novel which I may or may not have read back when it first came out (I think I might have, but, almost half a lifetime later, I wouldn't swear to it).  Either way, I'm now (re?)reading it in preparation for a production of the stage version.

It's being done in September at my alma mater (https://tisch.nyu.edu/grad-acting/events), with my friend Kareem guest-directing a mostly-student cast from Tisch's MFA Acting program.  He has brought me in to design projections alongside a group of graduate students from the Design department who are designing the set, costumes and lighting as their thesis project.

Reading the script of the play (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1408173352) about a week ago, I was surprised at how sparely-written it felt in comparison with memories of the spectacular NT production, which I had seen twice in its Broadway transfer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSVr5x2neAQ); on the page, the play feels much more streamlined and linear than it did onstage.  While it hardly qualifies as late-breaking news that there's a huge experiential difference between reading any play and seeing it performed -- and while the original production of Curious Incident was hardly subtle or covert in its elevation of image, sound and movement to at-least-equal footing with the spoken word -- in this case the script really does feel almost like a different work altogether, or, putting it less strongly, like a rough sketch or outline of the play I saw in 2015.  (Our upcoming production is already shaping up along different lines than Marianne Elliott's much-admired original: whatever role projections may end up playing in ours, they won't be animating an otherwise essentially-static empty cube).

The stage script is notable for its fidelity to its source, no minor feat for a story governed so profoundly by its narrator's subjective viewpoint; but, compressed for length and minus the novel's often short, choppy chapters and diagrammatic illustrations, the play feels even more stark, almost skeletal, as a piece of writing.  This suggests that a lot of the show's richness onstage -- the reason it felt so much more lush (which isn't good or bad, just different) than the script reads -- can be attributed to Elliott and her creative team.  (Just as one small example, many abrupt jump-cuts in time and place that felt perfectly natural onstage go entirely, sometimes disorientingly, unacknowledged in the script's dialogue and sparse stage directions -- again, not a good or bad choice, but an interesting one).  It also means that if we're not following the blueprint of the original staging (as it seems we're not), then, even more than with most subsequent productions attempting to rethink an iconic original, we've got our work cut out for us.

Anyway, in the meantime it's been nice reading the original novel (or rereading it, as the case may be), both for clues about the adaptor Simon Stephens's intent, and just for the pleasure of it.

Yay reading!  :)