ejp626 Posted November 11, 2009 Report Share Posted November 11, 2009 Michael Chabon's Manhood for Amateurs. Essay collection, fun read. How are his novels? I have a copy of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" but haven't read it yet. A friend also recommended "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" to me recently. Well, I really enjoyed Yiddish Policemen's Union, but you have to be a fan of alternative worlds/speculative fiction to appreciate it. As you may have heard, in this universe the state of Israel was never founded and most European Jews ended up in Alaska. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Dorward Posted November 11, 2009 Report Share Posted November 11, 2009 (edited) I liked Adventures of Kavalier & Clay & Wonder Boys--the film adaptation of the latter is also good though it cuts out my favourite chunk of the novel, the family dinner involving the Korean-Jewish daughters & a dead snake. Currently reading: James's The Princess Casamassima (which is a real change of pace after having recently worked through a lot of his 1890s fiction--this one comes off something like a mix of Dickens, Zola & Conrad's Secret Agent) & a pile of Sjowall/Wahloo mysteries. Edited November 11, 2009 by Nate Dorward Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medjuck Posted November 11, 2009 Report Share Posted November 11, 2009 (edited) Is that a great cover or what?! I'm also reading the new Monk biography and have finished 4 of the 5 books of Bolano's 2666. (only took me 10 months). Edited November 11, 2009 by medjuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 (edited) Michael Chabon's Manhood for Amateurs. Essay collection, fun read. How are his novels? I have a copy of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" but haven't read it yet. A friend also recommended "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" to me recently. They're both well worth your time. As I recall, Kavalier & Clay won the Pulitzer. Just started Barbara Kingsolver: Lacuna Edited November 12, 2009 by jlhoots Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van Basten II Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 Wonderful book! Supposed to an eighties novel, but I think it's great reading for any time. Did you read it in French translation or the English original? I try as much as possible to read books in their original language, and Wolfe's level of language is rather easy so there is no problem understanding it, the writer i had the toughest time is probably Thomas Pynchon, he is way beyond my league, never dared touched James Joyce for the same reasons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 Wonderful book! Supposed to an eighties novel, but I think it's great reading for any time. Did you read it in French translation or the English original? I try as much as possible to read books in their original language, and Wolfe's level of language is rather easy so there is no problem understanding it, the writer i had the toughest time is probably Thomas Pynchon, he is way beyond my league, never dared touched James Joyce for the same reasons You're doing better than me! I once managed Camus' L'étranger, but only with the help of a dictionary! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van Basten II Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 (edited) Read this Camus when i was in high school, the subject and the tone is rather bleak, so reading itself is a bit of a challenge, so imagine reading it in a language which is not our first one , don't remember if the level of language could be troublesome. A guy that is worth reading in his original form is Boris Vian. So far , i read about 60 pages of the Wolfe, i enjoy his way of writing details about the way of thinking of his characters, the tone is not completely smirky, just enough to have a laugh at them while still making you want to know more about them. Edited November 12, 2009 by Van Basten II Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 A guy that is worth reading in his original form is Boris Vian. IIRC I had a go at some poems by Boris Vian. They were short enough for me to cope with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 (edited) The Death of Bunny Munro by Nick Cave Not really surpringly an excellent book from an gorgeous songwriter. Edited November 19, 2009 by porcy62 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted November 14, 2009 Report Share Posted November 14, 2009 Am in the midst of a short story collection by Lynne Schwartz called Acquainted with the Night. This just never grew on me, though I ended up reading (with a bit of skimming) nearly all of it. I've just started Birds in Flight by Brad Kessler, which is about the after-effects of a plane crash (sure glad that I didn't grab this one on that long flight to Sacramento!). Anyway, this looks promising, maybe even too promising in that I might hang onto it after I've read it (the goal this year was to get through a huge stack of disposable fiction that I would only read once. I think I have purged in the neighborhood of 25-30 books. Next year I will go back to more enduring fiction.) I like the cover too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted November 14, 2009 Report Share Posted November 14, 2009 Back to Eric Ambler, this time Passage of Arms. All these Amblers are out of print, so I'm getting them used from Amazon for 1p + £2.75 shipping! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jostber Posted November 14, 2009 Report Share Posted November 14, 2009 Tiziano Terzani - A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East A great introspective book on traveling and fate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brownian Motion Posted November 15, 2009 Report Share Posted November 15, 2009 I just finished Between Sittings, an autobiography by sculptor Jo Davidson (1883-1952). Davidson called himself a "plastic historian", and indeed, he "busted" many of the movers and shakers of the first half of the 20th Century: Pershing, Wilson, Roosevelt, Gandhi, Einstein, Rockefeller, Scripps, Lincoln Steffens, Gertrude Stein, Helen Keller, Madame Chang, and many many more. The writing is friendly, conversational and anecdotal, and when I reached the end I craved more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted November 19, 2009 Report Share Posted November 19, 2009 Read about 20-25 pages of The Transit of Venus. Just could not get into it. Shirley Hazzard is like a living High Priestess of Modernism. Like Djuna Barnes cubed. Deliberately, willfully obscure prose that just begs the reader to "look at how clever I am." I looked at the reviews on Amazon, and nearly half the readers couldn't even tell how the book ended, since everything is so over-written. 20 years ago, I would have (probably) lapped this up, and even 5 years ago I would have forced myself to finish. Now I just feel time is too short. I'm still kind of mad that I forced myself to finish Bolano's Savage Detectives, when the payoff (for me) was so meager. However, I am just really digging Mark Salzman's The Soloist. I'd like to finish in one sitting, but I have a few too many other obligations. Jess Walter's The Zero is on-deck after that, and it also looks promising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted November 19, 2009 Report Share Posted November 19, 2009 Colum McCann: Let The Great World Spin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted November 19, 2009 Report Share Posted November 19, 2009 John le Carré, Smiley's People Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted November 19, 2009 Report Share Posted November 19, 2009 Henry David Thoreau: Journals Vol. 1. The cool thing here is that the very first entry is dated October 22 1837, which is my birthday (the October 22, that is). The main cool thing though is Thoreau himself, who is such a unique character, and saw the world with such depth, that it is amazing. Enjoying this so much that I ordered volume two, and heaven's above, we're on a street called love, are they expensive at $79.00 a pop! Don't know how I'm going afford to keep getting them, but I have to find a way. My favorite passage so far: September 1, 1839 I never feel that I am inspired unless my body is also -- It too spurns a tame and commonplace life. They are fatally mistaken who think while they strive with their minds, that they may suffer their bodies to stagnate in luxury or sloth. The body is the first proselyte the Soul makes. Our life is but the Soul made known by its fruits -- the body. The whole duty of man may be expressed in one line -- Make to yourself a perfect body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted November 24, 2009 Report Share Posted November 24, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdavenport Posted November 24, 2009 Report Share Posted November 24, 2009 Just finished "Of Mice And Men". Typically bleak Steinbeck, but I had the funniest feeling reading it: In 1990, a friend and I wrote a comic strip. In it, our hero is a New York cop on the trail of a serial killer. His girlfriend is (of course) then a victim. In the comic, we had a scene where our grief-stricken hero tells his older cop partner (they were based on Robert Duvall and Sean Penn in "Colors") about their long-cherished plans to move to a farm in the country, where they will grow alfalfa and raise rabbits. As you'll know if you've read "Of Mice And Men", this is George and Lennie's fantasy. Thing is, I'd never read "Of Mice And Men" and I'm pretty sure it was me who came up with that line when we wrote the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted November 25, 2009 Report Share Posted November 25, 2009 Daniel Fulmer's Chasing the Devil's Tail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medjuck Posted November 25, 2009 Report Share Posted November 25, 2009 Finished the Monk biography and Save the Deli. Starting the 5th and last book of 2666. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdavenport Posted November 29, 2009 Report Share Posted November 29, 2009 More Steinbeck - this time "East Of Eden". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fasstrack Posted November 29, 2009 Report Share Posted November 29, 2009 Just finished Pete Hamill's A Drinking Life----for the 2nd time, and just as wonderful. A powerful, lean book by a master writer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted November 30, 2009 Report Share Posted November 30, 2009 Back to reading Eric Ambler, helped by Manchester Public Libraries' purchase of titles recently republished as Penguin Modern Classics. Now on Epitaph for a Spy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted December 1, 2009 Report Share Posted December 1, 2009 Just came today from Daedalus. "The Completely Mad Don Martin" - all his Mad magazine strips from 1956-1988. A hefty two volume set for cheap! Highly intellectual fare! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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