Now reading...

[ejp626]

Just finished Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland.  It was ok, though I thought she chose an awkward ending.  I much preferred her previous novel, The Namesake.

I'm launching into Uzma Khan's Trespassing.

After that, Jane Eyre.  Incredibly this will be the first time I've read it, though I know the broad outlines of the plot.  In university, we read Wuthering Heights instead...

Edited July 15, 2017 by ejp626

[kinuta]

 

It's an ongoing mystery why this major work has never been made into a film or tv series.

Perhaps budgetary restraints prevented it at the time. It would make a great film.

Any casting suggestions ?

[BillF]

2 hours ago, kinuta said:

 

It's an ongoing mystery why this major work has never been made into a film or tv series.

Perhaps budgetary restraints prevented it at the time. It would make a great film.

Any casting suggestions ?

Yes, one of the best Le Carrés. 

Wikipedia's lengthy summary of the plot suggests filmmakers would have quite a job on their hands:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Honourable_Schoolboy

 

[sidewinder]

Short but very sweet..

[jlhoots]

Timothy Hallinan: Pulped

[BillF]

A review of the current movie - which I haven't seen - got me onto this. Melodramatic, yes, but a great page turner. As one reviewer called it, "unputdownable".

[paul secor]

Haruki Murakami: Men Without Women

[ejp626]

Nearing the halfway mark in Jane Eyre.  It's a strange case where I didn't read it as a kid, and as an adult I know the big secret, so it's hard to sustain the same interest a true first-time reader would have.

As soon as I am done with this, I'll go ahead and read Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, as the two are interlinked.

[BillF]

Fascinating and strongly recommended. Based on interviews in the 90s with 30 survivors of the classic era, ranging from big names (Mulligan, Konitz) to lesser known figures (Gene Allen, Don Ferrara). Many insights into intriguing musicians like Tony Fruscella and Dave Schildkraut.

[Big Beat Steve]

1 hour ago, BillF said:

Fascinating and strongly recommended. Based on interviews in the 90s with 30 survivors of the classic era, ranging from big names (Mulligan, Konitz) to lesser known figures (Gene Allen, Don Ferrara). Many insights into intriguing musicians like Tony Fruscella and Dave Schildkraut.

Thanks for pointing out this book. Sounds very interesting. Will have to investigate a bit more to see if it is worth adding to my overcrowded music bookshelf.

I sincerely hope it is more to the mark than these two:

https://www.amazon.com/Melody-Lingers-Scenes-Golden-Years/dp/1564741516/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501232938&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=%22Music+lingers+on%22+Fox+West+Coast

Not that bad but more about West Coast pop celebs than about WCJ proper and some of it rambles on quite a bit. Not very focused and little to really complement the books by Gioia, Gordon and Tercinet.

https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Southwest-History-Western-Swing/dp/0292708602/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1501233044&sr=1-1&keywords=oral+history+of+western+swing

Not bad either but mainly for want of a better and more comprehensive book. Clearly this book (and its subject matter in the form of an oral first-hand history) was written waaaay too late when most of those from the real heyday of Western Swing had already passed on or were unable to remember or contibute due to advanced age. So this book mainly focuses on post-war (i.e. post-1950) musicians and bands and therefore just manages to grab the VERY tail end of the music.

 

[paul secor]

Patrick Modiano: So You Don't Get List In the Neighborhood

A disturbing novel which will be with my thoughts and emotions for a long time.

[jlhoots]

Bill Whaley: Gringo Lessons

[BillF]

6 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Thanks for pointing out this book. Sounds very interesting. Will have to investigate a bit more to see if it is worth adding to my overcrowded music bookshelf.

I sincerely hope it is more to the mark than these two:

https://www.amazon.com/Melody-Lingers-Scenes-Golden-Years/dp/1564741516/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501232938&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=%22Music+lingers+on%22+Fox+West+Coast

Not that bad but more about West Coast pop celebs than about WCJ proper and some of it rambles on quite a bit. Not very focused and little to really complement the books by Gioia, Gordon and Tercinet.

https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Southwest-History-Western-Swing/dp/0292708602/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1501233044&sr=1-1&keywords=oral+history+of+western+swing

Not bad either but mainly for want of a better and more comprehensive book. Clearly this book (and its subject matter in the form of an oral first-hand history) was written waaaay too late when most of those from the real heyday of Western Swing had already passed on or were unable to remember or contibute due to advanced age. So this book mainly focuses on post-war (i.e. post-1950) musicians and bands and therefore just manages to grab the VERY tail end of the music.

 

Steve, I think you'll find that this book is the real McCoy - if I may use that anachronistic expression. 

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/518TYJwNBzL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

 

[Big Beat Steve]

5 hours ago, BillF said:

Steve, I think you'll find that this book is the real McCoy - if I may use that anachronistic expression. 

 

How about calling it "the bees knees", then ...

Thanks for your encouragement - I will check it out (and make some room eventually ...).

[kinuta]

Excellent. Sheds new light on lots of events that are often glossed over.

As near as non fiction can get to being a page turner.

[T.D.]

Latest and best I've read so far in his Glasgow series. I've read all but the most recent (For those who know the ending), which is a sequel to this.

[Brad]

This is truly an amazing novel about the Vietnam War, that touches so many themes: the end of the War, Vietnamese in American society, commentary about American culture, being a mole (spying) and finding one's place.  It's not for nothing it won a Pulitzer. 

[jlhoots]

5 hours ago, Brad said:

This is truly an amazing novel about the Vietnam War, that touches so many themes: the end of the War, Vietnamese in American society, commentary about American culture, being a mole (spying) and finding one's place.  It's not for nothing it won a Pulitzer. 

I agree!!

[ejp626]

Halfway into Wuthering Heights.  For me it is a more successful novel than Jane Eyre, which didn't do a lot for me in the end, though I still am not that interested in the characters here.  I do find it fairly strange that these two families act as if there isn't a larger world outside with which they can interact and from which they can find partners.  Most other novels, including Jane Eyre, show a bit of socializing with neighbors further afield and even the occasional trip into town.  These folks (in Wuthering Heights) all act as if they are stuck in M. Night Shyamalan's The Village.

Re-reading Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury after this.

Then Gide's The Vatican Cellars.

[jlhoots]

Keith McCafferty: Cold Hearted River

[Cyril]

It's about the jazz in the Netherlands, the North Sea Festival, a.s.o.

 

 

 

[BillF]

1 hour ago, Cyril said:

It's about the jazz in the Netherlands, the North Sea Festival, a.s.o.

 

 

 

That's a good picture. Johnny Griffin (?) with ...?

[Cyril]

2 hours ago, BillF said:

That's a good picture. Johnny Griffin (?) with ...?

.....Stanley Turrentine ! At the NSJF 1998.

[paul secor]

J.L. Carr: A Month in the Country

[jlhoots]

Grann: Killers Of The Flower Moon