What are you currently reading?

[Brian]

A book subject to perhaps the worst book review I've ever read:

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=geographyfacpub

(The author's name of this moronic tripe should not be omitted: Robert Stoddard. Robert H. Stoddard, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588 (well, in 1988, at least).)

"The index is helpful" - they'll put that on the cover of the paperback.

[CaughtintheGaze]

Probably starting this next:



I wish they made more books like the last one that I read. I simply have a massive adoration for annotated bibliographies. So much good content compressed into usually a paragraph.

[Bogey]

Just finished this one last night.  Well done and a quick read.  I learned a number of  new things about Camelot as well as reviewing other events such as The Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis which I had just read about in the fantastic book The Presidents' Club.  The parallel component that follows Lee Harvey Oswald was probably one of the strongest parts of the book.  The assassination itself is only covered in the last part of the book, so if you are looking for just that event, then probably look elsewhere.  And on a final note, "conspiracy theorists" need not apply. 

Now starting this one:



The King and the Cowboy: Theodore Roosevelt and Edward the Seventh, Secret Partners

[Jay F]

About 11 months ago I read Russel Banks' latest novel: Lost Memory of Skin.  It was on display at a library and the interesting cover and author's name compelled me to pick it up. The only other work by Banks' I read was Rule of the Bone, and I had seen the film adaptation of The Sweet Hereafter.

Anyway, Lost Memory of Skin has to be one of the most surreal novels I've read. It's about a young man living in Florida who is a homeless registered sex offender and a genius sociology professor who takes interest in him. It's a literary novel with engaging prose and I found myself reading it like a page turner.

Recommended.



http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Memory-Skin-Russell-Banks/dp/B00A1ACXG8/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371273691&sr=1-4

Thanks. That looks good, so I just ordered it.

[CaughtintheGaze]

Probably starting this next:



I wish they made more books like the last one that I read. I simply have a massive adoration for annotated bibliographies. So much good content compressed into usually a paragraph.

Replacing my Herzen spot with this (Herzen will come after, likely):

[Parsifal]

In the last few months I have read about 7 novels by William Faulkner.  I decided to switch gears and have now started re-reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.  I have said in the past this was one of my favorite books and it will interesting to see how it holds up.  so far so good, although I am amazed how much I have forgotten about the book.

[asin]0679728759[/asin]

Not my edition, but the same text.

Yuk!

[Octave]

I would certainly second the McCarthy, though his books are mostly ~10 years behind me now; I am due for another read.  I don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't read BLOOD MERIDIAN, but let me say that the "wedding dresses" came charging back through my mind just a couple weeks ago, sending a cold chill through me.

[Parsifal]

Not for you?   Whom do you prefer?

I can't say it wasn't impressive, but so much graphic violence!

I think we've been over this ground before.  For American authors, Faulkner, Hawthorne, Atwood (Blind Assassin, Alias Grace) Toni Morrison

[Parsifal]

Even among McCarthy fans, some do not care for Blood Meridian.   However, I like it.  As probably can be detected from my posts in this thread, Faulkner is a primary author for me.

Yes, Faulkner contains cultural violence, not eyeballs popping out of people's heads!  (groan, maybe I'll read B.M. again)

[Bogey]

My summer "presidential" reading continues:

[Karl Henning]

Revisiting Ives's Essays Before a Sonata, with relish.

[Beorn]

The great Steinbeck. Haven't read him in a looong time. And this is the first time reading this novel:
[asin]0670033049[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

Zis is KAOS: Ve don't shush here!

[Karl Henning]

Thread Duty:

Revisiting that marvelous classic, "Rip van Winkle."

[Florestan]

The great Steinbeck. Haven't read him in a looong time. And this is the first time reading this novel:
[asin]0670033049[/asin]

One of the greatest novels of the 20th Century! I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did!

[Beorn]

One of the greatest novels of the 20th Century! I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did!

I am enjoying it very much. What other Steinbeck do you like? I don't think I've read one I didn't.

[Wakefield]

Thread Duty:

Revisiting that marvelous classic, "Rip van Winkle."

My first time with this story was on TV: Rip van Flintstone. 

[Florestan]

I am enjoying it very much. What other Steinbeck do you like? I don't think I've read one I didn't.

The Winter of Our Discontent, The Grapes of Wrath

[Karl Henning]

My first time with this story was on TV: Rip van Flintstone. 

I grew up watching The Flintstones, but I think I may somehow have missed that one!

[Beorn]

The Winter of Our Discontent, The Grapes of Wrath

I've read these:
Tortilla Flat (1935)
Of Mice and Men (1937)
The Grapes of Wrath (1939)
Travels with Charley: In Search of America (1962)
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976)

Not as much as I thought. A long way to go to read them all!