What Are You Reading

[Zach R.]

Until I buy the next Ramage book, I'm reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.

 

[RadioHead]

And now for something completely different...

I've started re-reading John Williams' "Liverpool Tales From The Mersey Mouth", which is a collection of often very short essays on growing up in Liverpool in the 1950s and 60s.

Mr. Williams is an excellent writer, in my opinion, and his stories are often hilarious. His more recent stories are on his web site but not in the book.

"RadioHead"

 

[Matthew Dalton]

I've just started on George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. I've still got a bunch of books I need to read... But I couldn't resist picking this one up today.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

About 50 pages into Aldous Huxley's Crome Yellow.

A very satisfying read. Wonderfully written. Hilarious, in its own way.

bk

 

[Feraud]

Empires of the Plain- Henry Rawlinson and the Lost Languages of Babylon by Lesley Adkins.

 

[Willi_Goat]

I just picked up Forrest Gump and A Farewell to Arms. I went ahead and started on Gump since I was in the mood for something humorous.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm rereading for about the eleventy-thousandth time "A Song In The Dark" by Richard Barrios -- a history of the first wave of movie musicals, from 1927 to 1933. Probably my all-time favorite film book -- informative and immensely entertaining!

 

[Archie Goodwin]

Depends on which room I am in at the moment

In the den, I have Cary Grant: A Celebration of Style and Country Houses of Britain and Ireland. I left Distory: A Treasury of Historical Insults in the dining room. The Serpent and the Moon is on my nightstand. I've listened to all of the Nero Wolfe mysteries, and now I am trying to read them all (in order) in the library. After reading through this I now want to add Wodehouse to the list. Maybe I can have that in the nursery to read while putting my son to bed.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Hmmm

The public library I work at just took out of circulation the 1949 edition of Nineteen Eighty Four so I bought it for 50 cents. Someone donated American Psycho so I added that to the public library collection. We'll see how long it lasts before it is "borrowed" and not returned.
I'm reading The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie, again. I can never remember whodunit.

 

[Lauren]

I'm reading "The Deadly Brotherhood- The American Combat Soldier in World War II". It's remarkably good.

 

[Haversack]

I've just finished the first two volumes of John Masters autobiography: _Bugles and a Tiger_ and _The Road Past Mandaley_. The first is his acount of being a young British officer in a Gurkha regiment stationed on the Northwest Frontier in the 1930s. He has a lot to say about fighting an on-going limited war against the Pathans and even more about becoming a good officer. (He also writes about the uniform worn and especially their hats -Double Felts!) The second volume picks up where the first ended at the beginning of WWII. Initially, these are the campaigns in Iraq and Iran. The remainder is about Burma and the Chindits. He is a good story-teller and writes about some hard matters. Masters is primarily known today as the author of _Bowani Junction_ and other novels set in India.

Haversack.

 

[Polyhistor]

The last book I´ve read was the autobiography of snooker player Ronnie O´Sullivan, which is a very fine read if you´re a fan of the game and the guy.

 

[Twitch]

Pulled out and old one to re-read
The Pyramids of Egypt by I.E.S. Edwards 1947

 

[Caledonia]

The Blind Assassin, and a few government information pamphlets from WW11.

 

[MissQueenie]

I have bookmarks in about 20 different things right now, but I am actively reading:

Collected Odes of Pablo Neruda
Sense and Sensibility -- Jane Austen
Master and Commander -- Patrick O'Brian
Women Who Wrote the War -- Nancy Caldwell Sorel

 

[farnham54]

MissQueenie,

May I implore you to share your thoughts on Master and Commander? How does it stack up to the Hornblower series? I'm a huge fan of HH, but am unsure if I want to drop the coin for the set of Master and Commander books.

Cheers
Craig

 

[MissQueenie]

MissQueenie,

May I implore you to share your thoughts on Master and Commander? How does it stack up to the Hornblower series? I'm a huge fan of HH, but am unsure if I want to drop the coin for the set of Master and Commander books.

Cheers
Craig

O'Brian's books are, in my opinion, some of the most exquisite works in the English language. I started on them and had a hard time moving into the HH series. I'm still stuck in the middle of Mr. Midshipman Hornblower. The characters are so rich and nuanced in O'Brian's series -- they really develop and bloom as the stories progress, and the books read as one splendid arch rather than the episodic serial you might expect from such a LONG series of books. I'm re-reading them now, and going back to the first novel I was surprised at how shallow the characters feel at the start after having seen what they become just a few books later. HMS Surprise -- the third book -- broke my heart; it's one of my very favorites.

Excellent. Absolutely excellent. I can't say enough good things about the books, so I'll stop before I get carried away. It's certainly worth picking up M&C at the library for a test drive!

 

[Lord Jagged]

The Patrick O'Brian books are the standard by which I would measure any naval fiction. The only books that come close in my opinion are by Julian Stockwin - the Kydd series. If you haven't read all Jack Aubrey's career yet then I envy you the journey.

 

[MissQueenie]

The Patrick O'Brian books are the standard by which I would measure any naval fiction.

Why Viktor, bless your heart! Have you read Lobscouse and Spotted Dog? It's a charming companion book full of recipes from the series. I'm dying to try them out, but sadly my friends are not quite that brave.

 

[mysterygal]

As of lately, I'm absolutely hooked on this book, 'Scarlette', a sequel to 'Gone with the wind'... a real page turner