What Are You Reading

T.E.W.Clough · Aug 13, 2008

Decided to read through a list of books made into films.
I've just finished 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' by Philip K. Dick (which became Blade Runner), now moving on to Elmore Leonards 'Hombre'(Paul Newman flick).

I've got quite a few to work through, but anyone else got any good suggestions? I'm open to pretty much anything...

Feraud · Aug 14, 2008

The Big Sleep is excellent. So is The Maltese Falcon, The List of Adrian Messenger,Seabiscuit, Grapes of Wrath.

LizzieMaine · Aug 14, 2008

About halfway thru a rereading of "The Dragon's Teeth," a 1939 Ellery Queen whodunit. This is one of the ones where I remember the solution from the first time around, and it's actually one of the less complicated puzzles in the Queen canon -- the clues stand out fairly strongly when you know what to look for. There's some nice character bits, though, and Ellery himself is far less of a self-important pince-nez-wearing prat than he was in the earlier books.

Next in the queue -- I'm looking forward to a reread of "Brinkley Manor," a 1934 Jeeves and Wooster novel by Wodehouse, well known for the unfortunate tragedy of poor Tuppy Glossop's introduction to beverages stronger than orange juice.

AmateisGal · Aug 14, 2008

In a bit of a reading slump right now. Nothing I start completely captures my interest...

Caroline · Aug 15, 2008

AmateisGal said:
In a bit of a reading slump right now. Nothing I start completely captures my interest...

Me too! Right now I'm reading a Zombie anthology, and "Winning Low Limit Hold'em" by Lee Jones, which is genius. Now I truely understand what "giving them a free card" means if nothing else. Here's hoping the Fall will spark my interests in snottier works.

Starius · Aug 15, 2008

Even though I'm in the middle of two or three different books which seem to have hit the back burner for awhile... last night I decided to take Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere off the book shelf and started to read that.

I watched the mini series years ago, but realized I never did read the book. And even though the mini series was a rather low budget production, it had such a perfect cast that my mental picture of these characters as I read the book closely follows them. (Or how I remember them)

Only this time, reading the book, I felt bad when the rat girl disappeared on the Knightsbridge. I don't recall feeling bad about that when watching the mini series...

Of course, the reason why I bring up the British tv miniseries at all is for the fact that Gaiman actually wrote that before writing the novel, in an unusual twist.

Lady Day · Aug 15, 2008

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.
A flushed out version of his engrossing New York Times essay 'Unhappy Meals'.

Im only 20 pages in, but there is a sentence in the intro that really rang true to me.

As a relatively new nation drawn from many different immigrant populations, each with its own culture of food, Americans have never had a single, strong, stable culinary tradition to guide us.

I hope to get through it this weekend

LD

Alon · Aug 15, 2008

Kierkegaard: "Either/Or"

Bertie Wooster · Aug 15, 2008

Arthur & George by Julian Barnes, about Arthur Conan Doyle and The Great Wyrley Outrages in the early 1900s. Its encouraging me to re-read the Holmes cannon, which I've not done since Secondary school

GwenLake · Aug 15, 2008

Just finished "Wind in the Willows".

Joie DeVive · Aug 15, 2008

I just finished: My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon (an amusing collection of romantic supernatural short stories) and Garage Sale America

I've just started: What Would Audrey Do?

Feraud · Aug 21, 2008

I enjoyed Chandler's writing so much while reading The Big Sleep that I have started reading Farewell, My Lovely.

LizzieMaine · Aug 21, 2008

Going thru some 1940-41 issues of the Ladies Home Journal and enjoying very much a series called "How America Lives." Each month, LHJ profiles a different family, taken from a broad cross section of social and economic classes and presents a detailed, candid look at their daily lives -- analyzing the way they live at home, how they budget their money, how they spend their time, what they like and dislike about their lives, and even the clothes they wear. The series ran for a full year, and I can see where I'm going to need to go after the issues I'm missing -- it's a really fascinating window into the everyday culture of the times.

At this time, LHJ was the highest-circulation magazine in the world -- and it presented some excellent, serious journalism about the American family and how it fared as the nation straddled the line between the depression and the war. It was a far, far cry from a stereotypical household magazine, and copies are well worth seeking out for anyone seriously interested in the realities of the Golden Era.

splatt · Aug 21, 2008

I just finished reading a great book written in 2002 by <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/04/04/1017206241887.html" target="_blank">Sarah Murgatroyd</a> called, "The Dig Tree".

It's probably one of the better books about the ill-fated 1860 Victorian Exploring Expedition who set out to cross Australia from South to North. It was later known as the Burke & Wills Expedition.

Completely by co-incidence, the day i finished reading it also happened to be 148th anniversary of the expedition leaving Melbourne on the 20th of August 1860 [huh]

Spiffy · Aug 21, 2008

Franny and Zooey!
I love it, love it, love it. I literally got lost inside the story sitting in a sandwich shop waiting for parking on campus to open.

AmateisGal · Aug 21, 2008

LizzieMaine said:
Going thru some 1940-41 issues of the Ladies Home Journal and enjoying very much a series called "How America Lives." Each month, LHJ profiles a different family, taken from a broad cross section of social and economic classes and presents a detailed, candid look at their daily lives -- analyzing the way they live at home, how they budget their money, how they spend their time, what they like and dislike about their lives, and even the clothes they wear. The series ran for a full year, and I can see where I'm going to need to go after the issues I'm missing -- it's a really fascinating window into the everyday culture of the times.

At this time, LHJ was the highest-circulation magazine in the world -- and it presented some excellent, serious journalism about the American family and how it fared as the nation straddled the line between the depression and the war. It was a far, far cry from a stereotypical household magazine, and copies are well worth seeking out for anyone seriously interested in the realities of the Golden Era.

Lizzie, this series sounds fantastic! I would love to read it.

I think I'm going to see if there are any LHJ's on ebay...

AmateisGal · Aug 21, 2008

I am reading My Father's Secret War by Lucinda Franks. Very engaging.

sixsexsix · Aug 21, 2008

....still reading gone with the wind. does it ever end?!

KittyT · Aug 21, 2008

"A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole. The only "modern" novel that I consider to an American masterpiece.

DeaconKC · Aug 21, 2008

A Pictorial History of the First World War by Edward Jablonski.

What Are You Reading

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