Now reading...

[Bright Moments]

Joe Keenan - My Lucky Star

Joe is this Generation's P.G. Wodehouse!

[paul secor]

Tom Sancton: Song for My Fathers - a fine memoir of a boy growing up in New Orleans in the 1950's and 60's, his thoughts and stories about his father - a writer, an eccentric character, and an honest man; stories and memories of his musical fathers - among them, N.O musicians George Lewis, George Guesnon, Joe Watkins, Jim Robinson, and many others; race relations in New Orleans in the 60's; and portraits of people who were associated with the early days of Preservation Hall and the New Orleans traditional music scene - lots of good stories.

I truly enjoyed reading it, and I plan to try to find a copy of Tom Sancton Sr.'s first novel, Count Roller Skates, and to read that.

[Harold_Z]

An Oral History of WWII.

Really good.

[jlhoots]

Irene Nemirovsky: Suite Francaise

[ejp626]

Irene Nemirovsky: Suite Francaise

What do you think so far? I liked it, though obviously it would have been improved had she lived to finish the whole thing and also had a chance to revise.

[jazzbo]

"Sweet Chaos: The Grateful Dead's American Adventure" by Carol Brightman. So far, me likey.

[slide_advantage_redoux]

Vibrations - A David Amram autobiography

8 Men Out - The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series - Eliot Asinof

[jlhoots]

Irene Nemirovsky: Suite Francaise

What do you think so far? I liked it, though obviously it would have been improved had she lived to finish the whole thing and also had a chance to revise.

So far, so good - but I'm only half-way through the first part.

[Uncle Skid]

The Origins of the Urban Crisis : Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit - Thomas Sugrue. An eye-opener, to say the least.

Recently finished Mr. Litweiler's The Freedom Principle: Jazz After 1958. Combined with re-reading sections of Mr. Kart's Jazz in Search of Itself, I feel like I know much more about the music that has become so important to me in the last five years. Thank you, gentlemen!

[ghost of miles]

Just finished two books in the very cool 33 1/3 series, devoted to seminal rock albums--the ones for R.E.M.'s Murmur and the Smiths' Meat Is Murder (the latter actually a novella instead of analysis). Now reading Henry Miller's THE AIR-CONDITIONED NIGHTMARE and looking for my misplaced copy of THE GREAT BLACK WAY ( ).

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

[Brad]

Just finished Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. Not too sure what to make of the obvious anti semitism in there, which is an underlying theme of the book as villain of the piece, Robert Cohn, is Jewish.

[BruceH]

"The Masque of Manana" (short story collection)---Robert Sheckley. I miss this guy.

[ep1str0phy]

The Origins of the Urban Crisis : Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit - Thomas Sugrue. An eye-opener, to say the least.

That's on my reading list--what do you think?

[ghost of miles]

Located THE GREAT BLACK WAY and am more than halfway through--and yesterday I blew through Thomas Merton's NO MAN IS AN ISLAND. I had to set the Miller aside, with intentions of picking it up again soon; sometimes there's a certain sameness to his style, or tone, that wears on me after a bit.

[Shawn]

I know it's not "literature"...but Clive Cussler has been my favorite author since 1981. He's intelligent, he actually does what he rights about and his books are FUN!!! Man, what a great word...too bad us adults tend to forget what it really means.

[medjuck]

The Shadow of the Wind. Anyone else read it?

[Guest sailor]

Suicide: What Really Happens in the Afterlife? (Paperback)

by Jon Klimo, Pamela Rae Heath

Just started thumbing thorugh my copy.

Edited August 28, 2006 by sailor

[jlhoots]

Amy Hempel: The Complete Stories

Great writing (IMHO).

[paul secor]

Adam Hastett: You Are Not a Stranger Here - Disturbing and interesting short stories read on a recommendation from ghost of miles on this thread. Thanks for the rec.

[Matthew]

Ron Powers: Mark Twain: A Life. Kind of an up and down book. The facts are pretty straight forward but the writing style, at times, is over the top. Calls Twain the first "Rock Star," which, while cute, doesn't help toward any deeper understanding of Clemens. Too "slangy" in style also, so I think this book will age badly. Saying that however, it is worth reading if you happen come across it on sale.

Edited August 11, 2006 by Matthew

[ghost of miles]

Adam Hastett: You Are Not a Stranger Here - Disturbing and interesting short stories read on a recommendation from ghost of miles on this thread. Thanks for the rec.

Glad you're finding it compelling, Paul. I really do hope Haslett doesn't abandon fiction completely for the law.

I'm still making my way through AMONG THE DEAD CITIES, a philosophical inquiry into the Allied bombing of population centers during WWII. Just checked out a Peter Lorre biography, THE LOST ONE, and am hoping to spend some time with it this weekend.

Edited August 11, 2006 by ghost of miles

[Tim McG]

Teacher Man by Frank McCourt.

[BruceH]

The Discoveries, by Alan Lightman. I know that Lightman is also a novelist, but I find his prose a little lacking at times. Still, an interesting book.

[ejp626]

Am rereading The Pickwick Papers slowly.

I'm also going to take Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland with me on my trip to Japan. I only read one Murakami from early in his career, and want to see how he developed.