Read any good books lately?

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 8:44 pm

I recently finished -

The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald. fiction/autobiographical rate at 95

I'm currently reading his " The Beautiful and Damned", fiction/autobiographical- rate 50

They just finished one on Radio Reader that I am going to have to buy. It was really great and I highly recommend this book.

My Father's Secret War: a memoir, by Lucinda Franks, rate 97

chas · Post by **chas** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:15 am

I just finished The Lion of Ireland by Morgan Llywellyn. I kind of run hot and cold on her, but greatly enjoyed this one.

Before that I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson.

Currently, Bethel Merriday by Sinclair Lewis. So far it's absolutely fantastic, and I have no reason to assume it won't be to the end. He's my favorite male author by a longshot.

djm · Post by **djm** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:23 am

Overalls to Scrubs by CW Pellows. Lots of stories about working on trains from the steam years into early diesel, life out in the bush and in a tiny northern community, and the strange people who used to inhabit such places.

djm

evenstr · Post by **evenstr** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:53 am

I just finished All the Weyrs of Pern in Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. I also finished Song of the Sparrow, it's a free-verse retelling of "The Lady of Shallott". It is a children's book, but I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I haven't read much else lately; writing has been my priority.

Sandy McLeod · Post by **Sandy McLeod** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:13 pm

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Memories of My Melancholy Whores.

Sandy

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 7:22 pm

I suppose I could list some of the books of poetry I've read recently, but probably no one would care.

I'm reading Stranger In A Strange Land, again. That's one of my annual books.

The_Celtic_Bard · Post by **The_Celtic_Bard** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:09 pm

Congratulations wrote:I suppose I could list some of the books of poetry I've read recently, but probably no one would care.

I'm reading Stranger In A Strange Land, again. That's one of my annual books.

Congratulations I have actually been wanting to read more poetry, I'll take whatever you have got, lay it on me.

Oh, Phillip Pullman and his dark materials also really good

Divine Comedy by Dante

Paridise Lost by Milton

Into the Green by Charles de Lint (pen name can't remember his real but only look for his book under it) it is about a witch, green isles, the gift, tinkers, harps etc... in the back of the book there is music

Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern (William Goldman of course)

all my books are at home and I have a small collection it is growing though

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:46 pm

The_Celtic_Bard wrote:Congratulations I have actually been wanting to read more poetry, I'll take whatever you have got, lay it on me.

Oh, Phillip Pullman and his dark materials also really good

There's a Pullman seminar class next semester that will deal exclusively with His Dark Materials. I started to take it, but there were other things I was more interested in, and I'm slightly afraid of doing fantasy in a high-level English setting. Plus, I'm an American lit kind of dude.

So, anyway. Good books of poetry I've read recently, or am currently working through (reading poetry is a process, remember):

Lunch Poems, Frank O'Hara. I'm tempted to call this my favorite book of poetry ever.

The Afterlife, Larry Levis. No one looks at death quite like Levis. I learned a lot about cause and effect and preposition choice in poetry from this book.

Interrogation Palace, David Wojahn. Probably the most important living American poet. He's the only contemporary poet I've read who can be at once political, artful, insightful, and biting. He uses narrative like the best of fiction writers, but he frames it in the most ear-bustingly beautiful verse you've ever read. The man is a Rock and Roll Milton, he's a Postmodern Donne. I aspire just to his breadth of allusion, not to mention his ability as a technician. Nothing short of amazing.

Those are the important ones. I've read a lot of really bad poetry, recently, as well.

seisflutes · Post by **seisflutes** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:59 pm

I just read this one for class, and I really enjoyed it.

Title: The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse

Author: Louise Erdrich

Genre: I'm not sure...

Rating from 1-100: I'm no good at rating things, because I can't help weighting the rating system in my head, and then my rating doesn't make any sense to anyone but me. Let's just say it was an awesome book.

swizzlestick · Post by **swizzlestick** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 1:35 am

Congratulations wrote: I'm reading Stranger In A Strange Land, again. That's one of my annual books.

I've been intending to read that book again. I want to get the newer version with the sections that Heinlein could not get past his original publisher. Will be interesting to see how well it holds up after all this time.

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 2:01 am

swizzlestick wrote:
Congratulations wrote: I'm reading Stranger In A Strange Land, again. That's one of my annual books.
I've been intending to read that book again. I want to get the newer version with the sections that Heinlein could not get past his original publisher. Will be interesting to see how well it holds up after all this time.

Heinlein is pretty much unparalleled. Just in a totally different echelon even than most good fiction writers.

JS · Post by JS » Wed Nov 28, 2007 6:29 am

I just picked up Brian Morton's Starting Out in the Evening after reading the reviews of the new movie based on it. It sounded like one of those times when it would be better to read the book first. It's a very quiet, very literary novel (the main character is a writer in his seventies, his books out of print, who is visited by a very young grad student who hopes to jump-start her career by writing about him), and subtle and surprising as well. So I don't think that only fans of literary fiction would enjoy it--the relationships are drawn very nicely and are never quite what you'd expect. It might help to have at least a nostalgic interest in the post-WWII NYC literary world, but the setting is contemporary and so well-realized that I ended up reading it in a day.

And, after such deft urban nuance, starting Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men, another book I wanted to read before watching the film, was a real shock. I've got some free time, and it looks like I'm heading towards a novel binge.

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 8:33 am

swizzlestick wrote:
Congratulations wrote: I'm reading Stranger In A Strange Land, again. That's one of my annual books.
I've been intending to read that book again. I want to get the newer version with the sections that Heinlein could not get past his original publisher. Will be interesting to see how well it holds up after all this time.

I'm finally getting around to reading it.
I love 60's sci-fi, when the space program was so full of promise...

izzarina · Post by **izzarina** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:19 am

I'm in the process of reading Plato's Republic. So far, so good

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:04 pm

izzarina wrote:I'm in the process of reading Plato's Republic. So far, so good

I don't like Plato because he doesn't like poetry.