What are you currently reading?

[Artem]

I assume the video follows the book closely, so probably don't watch it before you finish the book.

[Todd]

Destiny and Power.  Jon Meacham's beefy bio of 41.  Perhaps a little too reverent toward Bush the person, and at least unerringly polite (Meacham did have direct access to a lot of personal material, so it makes sense), it is detailed and informative and comparatively neutral overall, which is quite a feat for a living former President.  (The tone, though, is of a President now gone.)  It fortunately lacks Meacham's tendency to offer psychological evaluations of his subject as he did in his bio of Jefferson, which is no doubt aided by the lengthy direct quotes from Bush's letters and recorded diary.  (The letter he wrote about the death of his daughter is very moving.)  There are some fun facts about Bush's privilege (while at Yale, he studied music with Paul Hindemith and, being captain of the baseball team, accepted a manuscript from Babe Ruth), constant reminders of his family's influence up until at least the 1960s, and so forth, and even though I'm not up to the presidential years yet, there is plenty to offer evidence of Bush's cold-hearted calculation and opportunism.  Of course, he doesn't come off as a fire-breathing ideologue in the process.  Meacham's smooth and sometimes elegant prose makes for easy reading, even if it may lack the page turning crackle that Richard Ben Kramer's obviously more limited bio of Bush in What It Takes has, but then Kramer does something different.

With Brand's light 'n' easy Reagan bio and Meacham's smooth Bush bio now out, one can only hope for something of similar quality about Slick Willy in the not too distant future.

[André]

My daughters and wife conned me into reading Hunger Games. About 30 pages in I figured I had enough information about the basic canvas and characters. I think the writing is quite basic and not really interesting. I decided to leave it at that and to watch the movies.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

My daughters and wife conned me into reading Hunger Games. About 30 pages in I figured I had enough information about the basic canvas and characters. I think the writing is quite basic and not really interesting. I decided to leave it at that and to watch the movies.

Try the original: Battle Royale. Hunger Games is basically just a second rate copy of it.

[André]

I see a similarity in contents. But is the writing interesting ?

[Bogey]

[NikF]

The Bark Tree (Le Chiendent) by Raymond Queneau.

[Karl Henning]

My daughters and wife conned me into reading Hunger Games. About 30 pages in I figured I had enough information about the basic canvas and characters. I think the writing is quite basic and not really interesting.

My perforce limited experience with the Harry Potter books is no great distance from this.

[Karl Henning]

While the armed militia is likely made up of weekend warriors who drink beer and shoot, just for the sake of shooting, at innocent animals . . . .

http://news.groopspeak.com/the-oregon-militia-is-about-to-be-taken-down-by-birders/

[Drasko]

Just finished the Compton-Burnett which proved to be somewhat harder read than I had anticipated. Pretty much entire novel is in dialogue and some of those are so veiled and oblique that there were whole stretches where I had no idea what they are actually talking about. Not sure if that's to Victorian manner of the characters, Compton-Burnett's particular style or me not being native speaker.

Moving onto something lighter, Boris Akunin's Turkish Gambit. Akunin's Erast Fandorin series are shaping up to become my favorite detective/mystery novels.

[André]

Detective or mystery novels are my péché mignon. Have they been translated into English (or better, French  )? Please let me know !!

Recently I discovered the detective novels of swedish author Henning Mankell. He doesn't spare one false lead. Takes 400 pages to another author's 150. I love it.

[Drasko]

Detective or mystery novels are my péché mignon. Have they been translated into English (or better, French  )? Please let me know !!

Yes, both in English and French. There are 15 novels so far and they are chronological.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erast_Fandorin#Novels

The first one is titled Azazel (The Winter Queen in English)
http://www.amazon.ca/Azazel-Boris-Akounine/dp/2258054672
http://www.amazon.ca/The-Winter-Queen-A-Novel/dp/0812968778

The second is Turkish Gambit
http://www.amazon.ca/Le-gambit-turc-Boris-Akounine/dp/2258054664
http://www.amazon.ca/The-Turkish-Gambit-Boris-Akunin/dp/0812968786

The third is Leviathan (Murder on the Leviathan in English)
http://www.amazon.ca/L%C3%A9viathan-Boris-Akounine/dp/2258054656
http://www.amazon.ca/MURDER-THE-LEVIATHAN-BORIS-AKUNIN/dp/0753818434

etc ...

ecently I discovered the detective novels of swedish author Henning Mankell. He doesn't spare one false lead. Takes 400 pages to another author's 150. I love it.

I've read few of the Wallander novels, and seen some of the films. Swedish TV made I think all Mankell's Wallander novels into films, plus he has developed separate series of Wallander films for Swedes that are not based on novels, plus British made Wallander series with Kenneth Branagh starring and directing.

If you like Mankel you could also try Icelandic writer Arnaldur Indridason who has somewhat similar style:
http://www.amazon.ca/Jar-City-Reykjavik-Murder-Mystery/dp/0099541831

[Artem]

Akunin's books are pretty enjoyable. I think i read most of them when they were published in Russian.  There were also a few films based on the first 2 or 3 books.

[bwv 1080]

[André]

Thanks, Milos. I will check at my local 'multicultural' library.

(makes note and stucks in wallet next to library card). 

Edit: wow ! There seems to be a lot of Akounine books in French that are available at the library: http://www.biblio.ville.laval.qc.ca/in/faces/browse.xhtml?queryid=500dde8b-ce1f-4527-b0df-6ccbff60b359 

[Daverz]

For some reason this reminds me of my sister, who always asks about anything I recommend "Does it have a happy ending?"

[lisa needs braces]

Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana-Medical, Recreational, and Scientific. Via audible.

An interesting and fair book.

[bwv 1080]

For some reason this reminds me of my sister, who always asks about anything I recommend "Does it have a happy ending?"

'Murica wins, so this one has a happy ending

[North Star]

Nearing the end of Fagles' translation of The Odyssey, and ordered these from a Scandiwegian online bookstore.

[zamyrabyrd]

Moll Flanders. Defoe's language is surprisingly clear and modern for a writer spanning the Baroque in music (1660-1731). The preface said he was one of the fathers of the English novel.