ghost of miles Posted May 29, 2006 Author Report Posted May 29, 2006 Nelson Algren, CHICAGO: CITY ON THE MAKE. In some ways it's sort of a non-fiction historical epilogue to THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM. Quote
Matthew Posted May 29, 2006 Report Posted May 29, 2006 Just starting to get into David Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest. Scary how the same mistakes are occuring now as in the past. Forward into the past I guess. Also saving two Eric Ambler's for my week vacation in April (waiting in airports and on airplanes): The Light of Day & Passage of Arms. I'm hooked on Ambler for some reason. Finished The Best and the Brightest last night, and it is a very impressive book; a person cannot help but compare it with what's going on now. What I found the saddest part of the book was the concern of advancing one's career with no thought to the human cost. This is a book I'll be reading again. Quote
jazzbo Posted May 29, 2006 Report Posted May 29, 2006 Rereading some Rex Stout, right now "Too Many Cooks." Quote
(BB) Posted May 29, 2006 Report Posted May 29, 2006 (edited) I have just finished Jim Harrison's The Road Home. One of the best books I have read in years. His characters are amazing. It is one of those stories that after I put the book down I have a hard time believing that these people don't actually exist somewhere in the world. I find the love of life and decency in all of his stories deeply inspiring. I can also recommend The Raw and The Cooked, a collection of food writing and The Summer He Didn't Die, A set of novellas. I have just started in on The Beast God Forgot to Invent, also by Harrison. Bill Edited May 29, 2006 by (BB) Quote
Bright Moments Posted May 29, 2006 Report Posted May 29, 2006 Graham Greene - Travels with my Aunt what a great writer! Quote
Harold_Z Posted May 30, 2006 Report Posted May 30, 2006 The Company Of Strangers by Robert Wilson. WWII espionage. I previously read and enjoyed A Small Death In Lisbon by the same author. Similar subject matter. Quote
JohnJ Posted May 30, 2006 Report Posted May 30, 2006 James Ellroy - "Destination Morgue" Definitely not primo Ellroy, but still entertaining if very OTT. Quote
paul secor Posted May 30, 2006 Report Posted May 30, 2006 'A Passion for Films - Henri Langlois and the Cinematheque Francaise' by Richard Roud - with a forward by Francois Truffaut Quote
ejp626 Posted May 30, 2006 Report Posted May 30, 2006 Graham Greene - Travels with my Aunt what a great writer! One of my favorite Greene novels. I also particularly liked Monsignor Quixote. Quote
Bright Moments Posted May 31, 2006 Report Posted May 31, 2006 Graham Greene - Travels with my Aunt what a great writer! One of my favorite Greene novels. I also particularly liked Monsignor Quixote. i am half way through. i read our man in havana last year. any recommendations for my next greene? Quote
ejp626 Posted May 31, 2006 Report Posted May 31, 2006 (edited) Graham Greene - Travels with my Aunt what a great writer! One of my favorite Greene novels. I also particularly liked Monsignor Quixote. i am half way through. i read our man in havana last year. any recommendations for my next greene? In addition to MQ, I would recommend The Third Man (if you haven't seen the film), The Quiet American and maybe Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party (a late novel). (I don't remember too much about Doctor Fischer other than it seemed inspired by and perhaps a bit overwhelmed by Dr. Strangelove.) Edited May 31, 2006 by ejp626 Quote
Bright Moments Posted May 31, 2006 Report Posted May 31, 2006 Graham Greene - Travels with my Aunt what a great writer! One of my favorite Greene novels. I also particularly liked Monsignor Quixote. i am half way through. i read our man in havana last year. any recommendations for my next greene? In addition to MQ, I would recommend The Third Man (if you haven't seen the film), The Quiet American and maybe Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party (a late novel). thx! Quote
jlhoots Posted June 1, 2006 Report Posted June 1, 2006 loved it! I agree. There are a number of relatively young writers that are really doing excellent work. These include Krauss, Jonathan Safran Foer (her husband), Myla Goldberg & T. Cooper. A somewhat "older" group including Michael Chabon & Jonathan Lethem also provide much reading pleasure. Quote
ghost of miles Posted June 1, 2006 Author Report Posted June 1, 2006 Graham Greene - Travels with my Aunt what a great writer! One of my favorite Greene novels. I also particularly liked Monsignor Quixote. i am half way through. i read our man in havana last year. any recommendations for my next greene? In addition to MQ, I would recommend The Third Man (if you haven't seen the film), The Quiet American and maybe Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party (a late novel). (I don't remember too much about Doctor Fischer other than it seemed inspired by and perhaps a bit overwhelmed by Dr. Strangelove.) BRIGHTON ROCK, too. One I'd still like to read and haven't gotten around to yet is THE POWER & THE GLORY. Quote
king ubu Posted June 1, 2006 Report Posted June 1, 2006 ... There are a number of relatively young writers that are really doing excellent work. These include Krauss, Jonathan Safran Foer (her husband), Myla Goldberg & T. Cooper. A somewhat "older" group including Michael Chabon & Jonathan Lethem also provide much reading pleasure. I have not yet read anything by Chabon or Lethem, never heard the names of Goldberg and Cooper, but I loved Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior... although some time after having read it ("Everything is illuminated", that is), I had some doubts about how good it actually is... sure, it's "brilliant", and his use of language indeed is creative and often hilariously funny, but still... the worst criticism about that book that I heard (and from a person for whom I have much esteem) was that Foer was some kid who knew how to use google and was good as pasting things together... I am not absolutely certain that this criticism is totally off the point. I don't really follow the US/UK book market, but some authors are being discussed in some Swiss and German newspapers... usually, though, only once their books are out in German, which is when I start looking for the english editions... I also read "Corrections" - terrific! Would he fit into that group of younger writers, too? Oh, and one of the better books I've read just for fun (most of the stuff I read is for University and not always all that funny...) was E.L. Doctorow's "City of God". Quote
jlhoots Posted June 1, 2006 Report Posted June 1, 2006 (edited) ... There are a number of relatively young writers that are really doing excellent work. These include Krauss, Jonathan Safran Foer (her husband), Myla Goldberg & T. Cooper. A somewhat "older" group including Michael Chabon & Jonathan Lethem also provide much reading pleasure. I have not yet read anything by Chabon or Lethem, never heard the names of Goldberg and Cooper, but I loved Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior... although some time after having read it ("Everything is illuminated", that is), I had some doubts about how good it actually is... sure, it's "brilliant", and his use of language indeed is creative and often hilariously funny, but still... the worst criticism about that book that I heard (and from a person for whom I have much esteem) was that Foer was some kid who knew how to use google and was good as pasting things together... I am not absolutely certain that this criticism is totally off the point. I don't really follow the US/UK book market, but some authors are being discussed in some Swiss and German newspapers... usually, though, only once their books are out in German, which is when I start looking for the english editions... I also read "Corrections" - terrific! Would he fit into that group of younger writers, too? Oh, and one of the better books I've read just for fun (most of the stuff I read is for University and not always all that funny...) was E.L. Doctorow's "City of God". Myla Goldberg: Bee Season (much better than her 2nd novel). T. Cooper: Lipshitz Six or 2 Angry Blondes Michael Chabon: The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay Jonathan Lethem: Fortress Of Solitude & Motherless Brooklyn Foer has his share of critics, but I've liked both of the novels I've read. Strauss also has a novel titled Man Walks Into A Room that is well worth reading. Corrections is Franzen's best writing (IMHO). You might also like Sigrid Nunez: The Last Of Her Kind. Edited June 1, 2006 by jlhoots Quote
king ubu Posted June 1, 2006 Report Posted June 1, 2006 Thanks a lot for these recommendations! Quote
ghost of miles Posted June 3, 2006 Author Report Posted June 3, 2006 Sandy Tolan's THE LEMON TREE: AN ARAB, A JEW, AND THE HEART OF THE MIDDLE EAST. Also hoping, while I'm on vacation, to get started on John Gennari's BLOWIN' HOT & COOL and Ashley Kahn's THE HOUSE THAT TRANE BUILT. Regarding younger writers, I really enjoyed Adam Haslett's debut collection of short stories, YOU ARE NOT A STRANGER HERE, which came out about two or three years back. Haslett was pursuing a law degree, but I'd be eager to read any new work by him. Quote
ghost of miles Posted June 10, 2006 Author Report Posted June 10, 2006 Highly recommend THE LEMON TREE for anyone interested in a very upclose view of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict... also finished Philip Roth's THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA, but his lame resolution nearly ruined the novel for me. About 45 pages into Gennari's BLOWIN' HOT & COOL... and also reading a very interesting book called GOING, GOING, GONE: VANISHED AMERICANA. (Wrong on vinyl, though!) Damn, why does my vacation have to end? Quote
jazzbo Posted June 10, 2006 Report Posted June 10, 2006 "Darkness at Dawn," a collection of the first "suspense" stories from Cornell Woolrich written between 1934 and 1935. I'm on a Woolrich kick. Quote
Matthew Posted June 10, 2006 Report Posted June 10, 2006 Jim Bouton's Ball Four. I had forgotten how gosh darn funny this book is. I haven't read this in, at least, thirty years, and it's bringing back so many memories -- wow. The Seattle Pilots, one year and gone, amazing to have a record of that team. An to top it all off, Weizzy posted pictures of the baseball cards for some of the players on that team. Baseball from back when I first started to love the game -- wow. Quote
BruceH Posted June 10, 2006 Report Posted June 10, 2006 "Darkness at Dawn," a collection of the first "suspense" stories from Cornell Woolrich written between 1934 and 1935. I'm on a Woolrich kick. Not good for your mental health! Quote
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