What are you currently reading?

[LKB]

I read Something Wicked This Way Comes, which many read in middle school, but my assigned Bradbury back then was Dandelion Wine. Wild and weird, a perfect childhood read. This came off the back of Fairy Tail by Stephen King, which had a grand opening and then petered off to the most awful, generic fantasy I've ever read. His one conceit was blatantly stealing Bradbury's plot device.



Bradbury insightfully realized that being able to roll forward or backward in age magically would lead to body dysphoria and a rejection of your own life.

Methinks Messrs. Cooger and Dark would approve. 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting. Lisa Genova.

[ritter]

As a complement to the biography of Alfred H. Barr Jr. I read a couple of months ago.



The dissemination and acceptance of avant-garde painting in the US in the 30s and 40s is a topic I find rather interesting, and this book on the subject by Hugh Eakin has received very good reviews (even if the title may be misleading).

[Florestan]

As a complement to the biography of Alfred H. Barr Jr. I read a couple of months ago.



The dissemination and acceptance of avant-garde painting in the US in the 30s and 40s is a topic I find rather interesting, and this book on the subject by Hugh Eakin has received very good reviews (even if the title may be misleading).

Indeed, I was expecting a book about Picasso and the Spanish Civil War.

[Florestan]

[vers la flamme]

Recently read a few books of Roman history, Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra and Adrian Goldsworthy's Cannae. Loved them both; I wonder if anyone here has any other recommendations for Roman history.

[NumberSix]

Recently read a few books of Roman history, Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra and Adrian Goldsworthy's Cannae. Loved them both; I wonder if anyone here has any other recommendations for Roman history.

SPQR by Mary Beard is a good read.

Also, for historical fiction, Colleen McCullough's First Man in Rome series is superb.

[Henk]

Recently read a few books of Roman history, Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra and Adrian Goldsworthy's Cannae. Loved them both; I wonder if anyone here has any other recommendations for Roman history.

John R. Clarke is the author of multiple books about Roman culture. Very well researched and beautiful books.

'The Roman Republic, a very short introduction' is remarkably rich in information.

[Florestan]

Recently read a few books of Roman history, Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra and Adrian Goldsworthy's Cannae. Loved them both; I wonder if anyone here has any other recommendations for Roman history.

Theodor Mommsen - The History of Rome

[SimonNZ]

Recently read a few books of Roman history, Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra and Adrian Goldsworthy's Cannae. Loved them both; I wonder if anyone here has any other recommendations for Roman history.

You might like the three Tom Holland has written so far on Rome:  Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic, Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar, and Pax: War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age.

[AnotherSpin]

Recently read a few books of Roman history, Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra and Adrian Goldsworthy's Cannae. Loved them both; I wonder if anyone here has any other recommendations for Roman history.

For me, the best source on Roman history is the testimony of ancient authors in good translations with adequate commentary. Starting with Titus Livius, Tacitus, Suetonius, and ending with Aelius Lampridius. Of course, Plutarch. Plus details from Plinius Secundus and Seneca.

[San Antone]

PD James Adam Dalgliesh mysteries, in order. Up to book 8, I believe. The recent series is very well done, and close, but not literal, to the books.

[Mandryka]

I think this is actually a perfect novel.

[AnotherSpin]

I think this is actually a perfect novel.

This novel was translated into Russian, and I read it in that translation in the '80s. I remember the fresh impression it left on me.

[Florestan]

Having greatly enjoyed this book, I just started another by the same writer.

[Mandryka]

It's about 15 years since I last picked this up. I do feel it's a great great classic, well repaying repeated reading. Bloody hard for someone who isn't a fluent Francophone though -- but only at the level of vocabulary, so it's no big deal really. I'm becoming an expert in French army slang.  Possibly untranslatable because of the register -- but also because of the music of the language, the rhythm.

[Jo498]

PD James Adam Dalgliesh mysteries, in order. Up to book 8, I believe. The recent series is very well done, and close, but not literal, to the books.

I had never read any PD James before last week when I read the first Dalgliesh novel and the sidequel "No suitable job for a woman". Admittedly I found this book much better than "Cover her face".
The latter is very well written but a bit too slow "classic country mystery" for me and worse I found at least 3 central plot elements to strain suspension of disbelief beyond breaking point.
(The identity of the murderer, the central twist about the victim, & the extreme convolution of events during the night of the murder.)
So I am bit wary to try others. What were your favorites of the series?

[San Antone]

I had never read any PD James before last week when I read the first Dalgliesh novel and the sidequel "No suitable job for a woman". Admittedly I found this book much better than "Cover her face".
The latter is very well written but a bit too slow "classic country mystery" for me and worse I found at least 3 central plot elements to strain suspension of disbelief beyond breaking point.
(The identity of the murderer, the central twist about the victim, & the extreme convolution of events during the night of the murder.)
So I am bit wary to try others. What were your favorites of the series?

I read them for diversion and forget them as soon as I put them down (or more accurately, close them on my Kindle).  I enjoy the writing, but it does sometimes go a little slow. 

I have had them around for years on my Kindle but only started reading them consistently in the last couple of months after watching the recent tv series, which I found excellently done.

I enjoy English mysteries, and don't mind "plot elements that strain suspension of disbelief" - my wife is always commenting on that kind of thing.  I simply accept whatever the author is putting forth and enjoy letting the story develop without thinking too much about it, beyond entertaining some guessing who's the killer.  I'm usually wrong, btw.

[Florestan]

I enjoy English mysteries, and don't mind "plot elements that strain suspension of disbelief" - my wife is always commenting on that kind of thing.  I simply accept whatever the author is putting forth and enjoy letting the story develop without thinking too much about it, beyond entertaining some guessing who's the killer.

Amen!

[Jo498]

As I grew up on the usually not very plausible Doyle, Christie etc. stories I think I am not overly pedantic here. But especially if the setting seems otherwise quite realist, i.e. not a totally artificial setup and there's not one but several points I do not find credible at all, it's a minus for me.





(Spoiler ahead)










The victim was an unwed mother who had first lived in a home for such (it's around 1960) and then worked as maid in the country house where she is eventually murdered. The central twist is that she was actually married (legal and everything, not bigamy, heritage etc. involved) but had not told anybody (the husband had to leave for Venezuela almost immediately after the wedding) and endured the social shaming out of capriciousness/spite for her uncle/aunt she grew up with.
Sorry, but this is just nonsense & looks too obviously like making a fool of the reader.