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[Bright Moments]

The Gentleman from Moscow

[Brad]

[ghost of miles]

Just finished the first (an intriguing look at crime and political corruption in 1920s/early 30s Los Angeles) and am halfway through the second (which is a 2020 reprint of the 1977 edition, with a new foreword by Gornick):

 

Edited April 11, 2020 by ghost of miles

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, ghost of miles said:

Just finished the first (an intriguing look at crime and political corruption in 1920s/early 30s Los Angeles) and am halfway through the second (which is a 2020 reprint of the 1977 edition, with a new foreword by Gornick):

 

[ghost of miles]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

 

 

 

[JSngry]

2 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

 

 

 

[jazzbo]

Speculative ancient history. I find this stuff fun to read and think about.

[ejp626]

On 2020-03-20 at 7:07 PM, Brad said:

I finished reading Home but found it a bit unsatisfying. It seemed to build a crescendo and then dissipates. One reviewer said it seemed that Morrison got bored with it and brought it to a swift conclusion. 

I'll be wrapping this up today (as it is when the e-book goes back to the library!).  I sort of see what's she's going for here (a bit of an inversion of the Odyssey but about a man who had no intention of returning home except for the bond with his sister), so I assume that as soon as he gets home the quest is over.  I do think her Korean war scenes are a bit over-the-top, and most of the characterizations are wafer-thin.  For sure not her best work...

[ejp626]

While it is quite good, I have stalled a bit on Camus's The Plague, but I'll likely finish it this week.

In other thematic reading, I have been dipping into Xavier de Maistre's Voyage Around My Room and A Nocturnal Expedition 'Round My Room.  My library doesn't have these, but the original translations are out of copyright and can be easily found on the internet.

After all this, it will be Kundera's The Incredible Lightness of Being, which I've never actually read (or seen the movie for that matter).

Edited April 12, 2020 by ejp626

[Brad]

I also stalled when I tried to read The Plague several years ago. I still have the book. Maybe I will restart eventually. 

[jlhoots]

Don Winslow: Broken

[Matthew]

The Wild Orchid by Sigrid Undest. Just started reading Undest, and I'm impressed!

[ejp626]

This is a bit out of my wheelhouse, as it is relatively rare I read graphic novels, but it is definitely well put-together.

It's basically a retrospective of a relatively unsung cartoonist who covers a lot of the history of Singapore using a wide variety of techniques and genres.  At one point, he has robot step in and save student protesters from the police, later he writes a strip deeply indebted to Pogo, but going on about local politics, then there is a superhero called Roach Man, who has basically the same back story as Spiderman etc.  The most interesting is when the cartoonist comes to SF, meets a bunch of cartoonists there but still doesn't get a big break.  But what he does pick up is a copy of PKD's The Man in the High Castle.  So he writes a cartoon about a parallel world where a different political party dominates Singapore's government.  There are detailed notes at the end for people, like me, who know little to nothing about Singapore's and Malaysia's history. 

 

(There's yet another twist, so I would wait to read the Wikipedia page until after you read the book, if it seems something that would appeal to you.)

[ghost of miles]

Brand new book from historian Mike Davis, whose previous book City Of Quartz has become a benchmark among Los Angeles histories:

[ghost of miles]

Still reading the Mike Davis-Jon Wiener book about Los Angeles in the 1960s, but have also started Madison Smartt Bell's new biography of one of my favorite writers:

[BillF]

On 16/04/2020 at 5:31 PM, ghost of miles said:

Brand new book from historian Mike Davis, whose previous book City Of Quartz has become a benchmark among Los Angeles histories:

Just read a review of it in the Guardian. Very much your sort of book, I'd say, David.

[Brad]

On 4/16/2020 at 0:31 PM, ghost of miles said:

Brand new book from historian Mike Davis, whose previous book City Of Quartz has become a benchmark among Los Angeles histories:

David, there’s an article in the New Yorker about it.

Mike Davis in the Age of Catastrophe

[ghost of miles]

21 hours ago, Brad said:

David, there’s an article in the New Yorker about it.

Mike Davis in the Age of Catastrophe

Thanks for the heads-up about that!

[Brad]

On 4/11/2020 at 9:43 PM, Brad said:

Finished this a few days ago. This is an unheralded book in his bibliography but surprised at how good it was. He has a lot to say about Germany and Britain of those times. 

[Brad]

Starting to read this. Never read it before. 50 years late 

 

[felser]

[Brad]

37 minutes ago, felser said:

Good bathroom reading

[ejp626]

I have to admit that I am just not in the right frame of mind to sit down and read through these books I've stockpiled.  It would seem to be the perfect time, but I am actually just as busy at work (thankfully) even though working remotely.  I do think as the weather gets nicer, I'll go outside and read more.

I am making pretty good progress on Stephen Jay Gould's Ever Since Darwin, which is drawn from his early columns in Natural History Magazine.

[felser]

2 hours ago, Brad said:

Good bathroom reading

Helps me stay current and employed (hopefully) in high tech at my ripe old age !  Reading the Rolling Stone Record Review (published 1971) in the bathroom.

[jlhoots]

49 minutes ago, felser said:

Helps me stay current and employed (hopefully) in high tech at my ripe old age !  Reading the Rolling Stone Record Review (published 1971) in the bathroom.

Hope you have enough t.p.