Now reading...

[Jazzmoose]

Yeah, I've thought about it. Those and the Eric Frank Russell and Robert Sheckley volumes as well. But while I know I'd appreciate having them in hard cover, I'm just cheap enough that buying stuff I (mostly) already have bothers me.

Edited September 6, 2013 by Jazzmoose

[BillF]

[alankin]

Alan Furst - Night Soldiers

[ejp626]

Slowly, oh so slowly, getting into Proust. I recall having trouble for the first couple hundred pages getting into the pacing of Trollope, and this is even more extreme. It actually takes 50 pages for him to get to the madeline cookie that sets off the whole series. I am going to have to find a way to spend more time with this, as at my current rate I won't finish until Dec.! It has some subtle payoffs, but I simply cannot imagine ever reading this a second time.

On the side, I am nearly done with Heller's Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man. It has fallen further in my estimation. It simply is not a good book at all (what a shame), though it is short, so I will finish reading it.

[paul secor]

Hakan Nesser: Borkmann's Point

A good police procedural

[A Lark Ascending]

Alan Furst - Night Soldiers

Great series. Just finished watching the BBC dramatisation of Spies of Warsaw last night - they did it well.

If you don't know them you might enjoy this series:

They start in Germany in the 30s. I have his most recent paperback in the to read pile which moves to post-1945.

Edited September 7, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[alankin]

I'll look out for the BBC Spies of Warsaw. Haven't heard of the David Downing series. I'll check it out.

[A Lark Ascending]

WWI novel (give away cover!) but centred on two Australian nurses. I've just reached the arrival at Gallipoli. Very impressive - I recall being overwhelmed by 'Confederates' thirty odd years back.

Edited September 8, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[Jerry_L]

The Bridge at Remagen: A Story of World War II (Presidio War Classic; World War II)

by Ken Hechler (Author)

Edited September 9, 2013 by Jerry_L

[jlhoots]

Margaret Coel: Buffalo Bill's Dead Now

[medjuck]

Alan Furst - Night Soldiers

I read several books in this series before I got to this one which is the first. IMHO it's the best and certainly the place to start.

[Blue Train]

A trailer for Thomas Pynchon's new book. It's being released Sept. 17th.

http://vimeo.com/73716114

[ejp626]

A trailer for Thomas Pynchon's new book. It's being released Sept. 17th.

http://vimeo.com/73716114

This intrigues me, but I might as well hold off a year or two and get it at a bargain price. (That's what I did with Wallace's The Pale King...)

I have at least 24 months of books in my TBR pile.

[B. Goren.]

[paul secor]

John Banville: Prague Pictures

[jlhoots]

Messud: The Woman Upstairs

[Blue Train]

I haven't read it, but Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington by Terry Teachout made the 2013 National Book Award Nonfiction Longlist,



http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2013/09/18/the-national-book-awards-longlist-for-nonfiction-announced.html

[jazzbo]

[jlhoots]

Mantel: Bring Up The Bodies - not a time period I often read - but I'm really going to try to like it.

[paul secor]

Muriel Spark: Momento Mori

A novel which concerns old age, illness, dementia, and death. Surprisingly, it has many comic moments.

[John Litweiler]

Muriel Spark: Momento Mori

A novel which concerns old age, illness, dementia, and death. Surprisingly, it has many comic moments.

Not long ago I went on a Muriel Spark binge and read probably the great majority of her fiction. A lot of the time I felt she was inspired by grudges and settling scores. She also seemed to me to be afflicted with some residual British empire racism. But her characters are so vivid and her satire is so juicy and her humor is so sly and mainly that she wrote so very well, that I'm afraid I can't resist her An addiction.

[medjuck]

I'm reading both Ted Gioia's The Jazz Standards and Will Friedwald's Stardust Melodies. Frieldwald gives the history and an analysis of 12 of

"America's Most Popular Songs". All but two of them are amongst the 252 songs covered by Gioia. I'm having fun jumping back and forth between them. Also reading our John Littweiller's "Sundido".

[paul secor]

Muriel Spark: Momento Mori

A novel which concerns old age, illness, dementia, and death. Surprisingly, it has many comic moments.

Not long ago I went on a Muriel Spark binge and read probably the great majority of her fiction. A lot of the time I felt she was inspired by grudges and settling scores. She also seemed to me to be afflicted with some residual British empire racism. But her characters are so vivid and her satire is so juicy and her humor is so sly and mainly that she wrote so very well, that I'm afraid I can't resist her An addiction.

This is the second of her novels I've read. I've enjoyed both and plan to read more.

[Jazzmoose]

First time I've read this author. Impressive.

[patricia]

Just a suggestion, but I found a book that might be worth your checking out.

It's "More Than Night - film noir and it's contexts", a history of the film noir genre. It discusses the inception of the genre, from the forties to the present and is really interesting, if you like dark themes, as I do.