Read a good book lately?

[TheEarl]

I'm also reading another series book, Hard Eight, by Janet Evanovich who's always good for a laugh-- like her main character Stephanie Plum, JE never disapoints.

I quite liked Stephanie Plum. One of very few characters in books who I really like. Have you read any Colin Bateman books? I've just finished Shooting Sean, which has a superb main character in a constantly drinking column writer from Northern Ireland.

The Earl

 

[oggbashan]

Ogg, I presume you are assigning the 'intellectual' bit to Lit. members.

necessarily presumptuous Perdita

Not necessarily. The Nazis' definition of deviant included anyone who advocated:
- any role for women except kids and kitchen,
- sex with anyone who wasn't "Aryan"
- equality of treatment and/or respect for handicapped ...
and so on.

Definition is important. "Deviant" could cover anybody they didn't like.

Og

 

[jfinn]

Have you read any Colin Bateman books? I've just finished Shooting Sean, which has a superb main character in a constantly drinking column writer from Northern Ireland.
The Earl

No I haven't, but thanks for the tip. I'll put him on my library list.

Jayne

 

[Quasimodem]

Originally posted by oggbashan
- sex with anyone who wasn't "Aryan"

Er . . . ah, would that include German Shepherds

 

[MathGirl]

would that include German Shepherds

Dear Quaz,
Those teutonic sheepherders were too busy ..... herding sheep. The dogs, though, well that's another story. I think they called them "Alsatians" to avoid confusion and possible incareration.
MG

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Not necessarily. The Nazis' definition of deviant included anyone who advocated:
- any role for women except kids and kitchen,
- sex with anyone who wasn't "Aryan"
- equality of treatment and/or respect for handicapped ...
and so on.

Definition is important. "Deviant" could cover anybody they didn't like.

Og

If the nazis were in power today, I would most likely be executed for a)being a communist (hey, never mind the Stalin episode, those nazis hate everyone who doesn't worship them only), and b)preferring black men over so called "aryans".

IF I would not be murdered, however, they would sterilize me to stop me from spreading inferior genes.

I'm nearsighted.

That's all it would take.

 

[MathGirl]

Meanwhile, back at the thread subject........

I recently read a collection of stories by Joe R. Landsdale. Now there's a guy who can write 'dark.' "Drive-In Date" was gross and spooky. The story of the three kids who caught the alligator was really weird. All very well written and original.

Any Landsdale fans out there?
MG

 

[Bob North]

Speaking of alternate histories, I'm reading Harry Turtledove's Guns of the South, in which disgruntled Neo-Nazi South Africans steal a time machine and go back to the American Civil War in order to provide the Confederates with...AK-47's.

I know, sounds strange, but Turtledove really knows his stuff and I'm really enjoying it.

 

[MathGirl]

Speaking of alternate histories, I'm reading Harry Turtledove's

H.Turtledove. That's the guy whose name I was trying to think of who wrote "Ruled Britannica." That sort of thing must be a specialty of Harry's. Thanks, Bob. I'll have to try "Guns of the South," although it sounds like a real stretch with the time machine.

MG

 

[Guest]

Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me by Javier Marias
(Sp. tr. by M.J. Costa)

The title caught my eye, a line from Richard III (when ghosts of those he murdered visit him before his end on Boswrorth field).

It's the story of a man who goes to a married woman's home to begin an affair while her husband is away. She dies of natural causes just as they're beginning to make love. He leaves guiltily, also knowing her son is asleep and alone in his room and that the husband is not expected back for some time.

The man gets involved with the family (husband and sister) and can't help but be obsessed with knowing the woman he almost loved (or fucked). Beautifully written, unique story. First sentence:

No one ever expects that they might some day find themselves with a dead woman in their arms, a woman whose face they will never see again, but whose name they will remember.

 

[Lovepotion69]

His short stories (especially his last collection) haven't impressed me as much. Where are you in "Hearts"? I'm about halfway through the second segment. At first, it didn't seem to fit where the first left off, and because of that, I didn't want to read further. That didn't last long though...
King truly is a modern master. It's a shame he's retired.

I am not sure where I am. LOL I finished the first segment of the book. Then I kept skimming through here and there to figure out how it was written. Was a bit confused at first and found it a bit boring. Will get through it all though soon.

Which is King's last short story collection? I read "Everything's Eventual". There are a few that I really like in there. Gotta find more of his short stories in the library.

 

[deliciously_naughty]

Recent Good Books:

1. Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner (not an erotica novel, regardless of title)

2. Harry Potter 5

3. The Devil Wears Prada

4. Magic's Pawn by Mercedes Lackey

5. Portrait in Death by JD Robb

 

[The_Fool]

It's summer for Christ's sake. I pick em up and put em down.

Rereading another O'Brian: the late Patrick O'Brian, whose 20 or so volume Aubry-Maturin series on life in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars is surely some of the finest writing I've come across in the last 5 years. I realize that these are not for everyone though. Women especially don't seem to like them, which is weird, because I think he's even better than Jane Austin at recreating a finely nuanced world of real and fascinating people. He makes you realize how very great historical fiction can be; not only tells a great story, but puts you back in the time so that you know what their world was like, what they thought of it, what it felt like, smelled like, tasted like. I miss his characters whenever I'm not reading him. I'm also picking up a lot of late seventeenth century speech mannerisms, which is kind of fun.

I especially like to see how he violates every rule you think you know about writing and pulls it off through sheer talent. Makes you realize how silly the rules are.

---dr.M.

From a historical perspective, you might try the Hornblower series by C.S. Forester. Assuming you haven't read them already....

 

[jon.hayworth]

I have just finished reading a historical novel entitled "A Dead Man in Deptford" by Anthony Burgess.

Initially I was attracted to it as it is about the murder of the Elizebethan Playwright, Poet and sometime Spy Christopher Marlowe. I have also read other actual History books on the same subject. however Burgess was of special interest to me as it has the premise that Marlowe is murdered to silence a renegade Spy who is out of control. Like Burgess when I was a student I wrote an essay suggesting that this was what happened - my thesis was that his play Doctor Faustus related to his recruitment into Walsingham's Intelligence Service and the consequences of joining this organisation.

I recommend it if you enjoy historicals, and can cope with Burgess's eccentric puntuation and pov that seems to slip I think it is 2nd person constantly slipping into 3rd person.

jon

 

[MathGirl]

From a historical perspective, you might try the Hornblower series by C.S. Forester. Assuming you haven't read them already....

And then, to really confuse yourself, read a few by E.M.Forster.
MG

 

[alltherage]

Just finished Seabiscut by Laura Hillebrand. Great book. Had me in tears at times.

 

[MathGirl]

Bobbie Parker

I recently read Robert B. Parker's latest, "Shrink Wrap." I think it's one of his best. Of course anything with Spenser in it is okay with me.
MG

 

[BlackSnake]

I'm reading a really good book called "Makes Me Wanna Holler" by Nathan McCall.

It's about a young black man in America. It's really good, since the character is taken through some of the same experiences I had. The affects it had on him are a bit different than my own, but I can still identify. I saw what he was seeing and left, and haven't been back. Maybe that's where my temper comes from; I know it does.

 

[MathGirl]

Take dis!

It's about a young black man in America.

Dear BS,
Since you like books by blacks about blacks, read "Tuff" by Paul Beatty. Quite different and very funny.
MG
Ps. I'll bet you don't read it.

 

[BlackSnake]

Re: Take dis!

Dear BS,
Since you like books by blacks about blacks, read "Tuff" by Paul Beatty. Quite different and very funny.
MG
Ps. I'll bet you don't read it.

You're asuming too much. "Makes me wanna haller" is a good book and not because the author is an African American.

What in the fuck are they doing to you sexy ass babes out there?

 

[SexyChele]

I just dropped out of a book club that I'd been involved with over the past year. Books got to be too damn boring so I can't recommend anything I've read there. Right now, I'm reading It by Stephen King. Yeah, it's dated, but I hadn't read it before and my S/O gave it to me. And yes, I am hooked, but then I'll read anything Stephen King puts out.

As far as Hearts in Atlantis is concerned, I read it a couple of years back, when it first came to paperback. It's a confusing book to read, and admittedly not one of King's best efforts. Somehow, when you get to the end it leaves you with a lot to think about. Skip the movie, however. If you've read the book, the movie is a disappointment, even with Anthony Hopkins in it.

Stephen King has not retired but he is desperately trying to get out of the horror genre. He has shown he can do it to some degree, with stories such as "The Green Mile" and "Dolores Claiborne", but since his accident he has not really done well. His recent efforts have left much to be desired, at least in my opinion.

 

[oggbashan]

Stephen King

I sell more books by Stephen King in the Horror section than the total of all the other "horror" authors together.

Since I have a secondhand bookshop, most of them are his earlier titles.

Og

PS. I have just been reading about Witches - "The Witches' Way" etc. about how to become a witch and what witches do. It is background research for one of my stories now stalled.

One of the references was to Dion Fortune so I read one of her novels "The Witch from the Sea". I was not impressed. I could not suspend my disbelief long enough to get involved with the story.

 

[Dr Richard]

Like Perdita I am also an admirer of Javier Marias. He seems to take the titles for his books from Shakespeare's plays. I'm just about to start "A Heart So White", with the same translator. While we're on the subject of Spanish writers, Arturo Perez-Reverte has written some wonderfully elegant thrillers. "The Fencing Master" is my favourite so far. I've just finished "If nobody speaks of remarkable things" by Jon McGregor. To the person who has read "The Lovely Bones" and wanted to cleanse their mind of such a powerful story, I heartily recommend McGregor's novel. He's just won the Betty Trask award with it (previous winners include Alex Garland and Meera Syal). He's up for another award against another book I loved - "The Snow Geese" by William Fiennes. It's a travel book where he followed the snow geese from England to Canada, musing about migration and homecoming. I was travelling in America at the time. And yes, he is distantly related to Ralph and Joseph.

P.S. Enigma was written by ROBERT Harris. Thomas Harris was creator of the infamous Hannibal Lecter, who won my countryman Tony Hopkins a well-deserved Oscar.

 

[Guest]

Hola! Dr. R.

Now why are all the interesting men from the UK, or is it just me? (rhetorical query).

Welcome, sir. Would love to discuss more reading w/you.

Running now, Perdita-at-work

p.s. The Fienneses are an interesting lot, including the late matriarch writer. I thought the sister (can't recall if there is more than one) did a superb job of translating "Onegin" to the screen.

 

[MathGirl]

Re: Re: Take dis!

Originally posted by BlackSnake You're asuming too much.

Dear BS,
Possibly. I just felt that a book that long might be too much.
MG