What Are You Reading

[Harp]

It's not a bad read at all Harp. The movie is supposed to be based purely on the part about Billy Fiske, although I think that there's the possibility that the film will not go ahead now what with Cruise getting the flick from Paramount.

I got it initially for the Fiske part as I have been interested in him and collecting information on him for quite some time now. He fits well with my interest in both the Battle of Britain and the Cresta.

I think Cruise still has sufficient muscle to get a project done, so I
hope he shops it to another studio. With the dearth of really good script
material--I mean, where else but the Bible or Shakespeare are such
magnificent themes found, if not in History; especially the Second World War?
Fiske is a fascinating character; irrespective of nationality, as were all
those who flew against the Third Reich during the Battle of Britain and
throughout the War.

[jazzzbaby]

Just finished Loretta Lynn's "Still Woman Enough" (LOVE HER!!)

and starting...Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" apparently it was published in 1899 and was so disturbing to critics & the public that it was banished for decades...

[Smithy]

Fiske is a fascinating character

An Olympic double gold medallist, film producer, Le Mans race driver, Cresta rider who never fell on the run and Battle of Britain Hurricane pilot, all by the age of 29. Make a hell of a movie!

[Harp]

The Assassin's Cloak
edited by Irene and Alan Taylor
(An anthology of the world's greatest diarists)

I'm searching for de Beauvoir, Parker, and other salacious wits....

[Harp]

Back to From Dawn To Decadence by Jacques Barzun.

[beaucaillou]

'Super Flat Times' by Matthew Derby
'Moral Disorder' by Margaret Atwood
'Champagne' by Don & Petie Kladstrup

[carebear]

Just finished Garry Wills "Why I Am A Catholic" last night.

[Daisy Buchanan]

Shaw aces Henry VIII in A Man For All Seasons.
The Borgia are more fascinating than the Medici....
And after the Tudors, there are the Stuarts.

Doing some reading up on the Medici's right now. Not nearly as fascinating as the Borgias

Thanks for the info on A Man For All Seasons. I actually read the book by Robert Bolt a while back. I'm gonna have to re-read it now that I'm going through this Tudor phase. I would like to know a bit more of Katherine of Aragon, before she married Henry VIII.

[SamReu]

"Thunderstruck", by the estimable Erik Larson, which I finished last night. It is the true account of Marconi's development of wireless telegraphy at the dawn of the 20th century, and how the new technology helped Scotland Yard nab a murdering doctor fleeing Europe on a ship. It is a good book, but not as engaging as Larson's "The Devil In The White City" (about the Chicago World's Fair and a serial murder) and "Isaac's Storm" (detailing the all-time king of natural disasters in America, the 1900 Galveston hurricane).

After that heavy stuff, I may reach for something by the very recently departed Sydney Sheldon.

[Miss Neecerie]

Ivan's War by Catherine Merridale

It's interesting in that its trying to get beyond the normal Soviet 'Glory' stories of WWII's Red Army....


Quite enjoying it so far......