BS: Read any good books lately?

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Amos
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 11:02 PM

Oh, here it is: "Through Masai Land", by Joseph Thomson, 1885, republished 1968 by Frank Cass &Co., Ltd. London.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: dulcimer42
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 10:18 PM

I agree with the comment that John Grisham's books are hard to put down. I've read them all. Street lawyer was probably my favorite.

I'd be interested in knowing the title of the book about the lady accepted into the native sweat lodges, etc.   Sounds interesting.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 04:53 PM

Let me see...

I reread "Alas, Babylon", "Level Seven", "A Canticle for Liebowitz", and saw the film version of "On the Beach". I also am ( still) reading the collection of Heinlein short stories that are not part of his Future History.

Just brushing up for July, 2009...

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 11:19 AM

I'm finishing the fifth Harry Potter book. Order of the Phoenix. I read the earlier books out loud to the kids when they were younger, but this book came out after we had finally put an end to bedtime reading (they could both read very well, in middle school and high school, but we still all really enjoyed reading out loud every evening.) I also have a Nero Wolfe mystery on the bedside table, and several scholarly books in my "must read" stack in my office. But I haven't done any recreational reading for quite a while, so I'm enjoying kicking back with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

SRS

(I have the last two Potter books that I'll eventually get to, hopefully before the films come out)

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: kendall
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 10:01 AM

The Street Lawyer by John Grisham. Hard to put down.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: ard mhacha
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 06:24 AM

I have read a large number of books on World War 2, from the German perspective, I would strongly recommend, The forgotten soldier by Guy Sajer, this book describes in gory detail the war on the Russian front.
I would desribe this book as the best I have read on this subject,worth a visit to Amazon for a review.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: The PA
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 04:45 AM

'My Booky Wook' - Russell Brand. Couldnt stand the chap until I read his book (pressie from husband). Now I must say I see him in a whole new light, don't think I could have survived that type of childhood. Still not a great fan but I do have a bit more respect for the chap.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: GUEST,wordy
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 04:24 AM

"Arthur and George" by Julian Barnes. A masterpiece of storytelling based on a true life investigation by Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: open mike
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 02:09 AM

I am reading a book by a non-native woman who was welcomed into the tribal sweat lodge and pipe smokeing ceremonies (or sermonies as she calls them) This was written in the early 70's.

Recently i read one (by Diane Smith?) about a woman who was a botanist in Yellowstone in the 1880's. Letters From Yellowstone is almost entirely comprised of postal communications between the characters.

I am also reading about Sarah Winnemucca, daughter of a tribal chief
who travelled to Washington to speak for her people.

Oh yes and a story about Belle Starr...

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: John O'L
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 01:21 AM

I almost had to force myself to keep reading Tim Winton's Cloudstreet, but was rewarded because the further I went the more I enjoyed it.

Before that I read Steven Carroll's The Gift of Speed, an excellent read with some truly exceptional moments, marred only by the misery being spread on unnecessarily thick at times. It has a brilliant ending. I like good endings.

At the moment I am reading a not-very-memorable book, but I've got Martin Cruz Smith's Stalin's Ghost on the bedside table lined up for next. I'm looking forward to that. Gorky Park was another very good book with a very good ending.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Rapparee
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 06:52 PM

James Kilts "Do What Matters". It's a book about business. It's not the only thing I'm reading, however. I'm also reading "Gentlemen's Blood," a book about dueling; "Irish Murders"; "Irish Ghosts"; "The Truth About The Leprechaun" by John Curran, and a few others.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Giant Folk Eyeball (inactive)
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 06:48 PM

Richard Yates was a phenomenally good writer - especially of short stories: 'Eleven Kinds of Loneliness' is one of the best short story collections I've read - it's up there with Carver and Larry Brown's 'Big Bad Love and Chris Offutt's 'Kentucky Straight'. I think its now available as part of 'The Collected Stories of...'

What I want to know, though, is what the hell has happened to Harry Crews?

Cheers

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 04:58 PM

Do you have the author's name, Art?**BG**

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 04:12 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Rapparee
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 12:15 PM

Yes.

Oh, you want titles!!

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: BuckMulligan
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 12:11 PM

My son, a junior at UNH, gave me a copy of Revolutionary Road (1961) by Richard Yates, at Hanukkah. We share a love of good writing and he was "blown away" by Yates's first novel - I hadn't read it, shame on me. It's well worth reading if you're at all interested in the evolution of modern American fiction, particularly the "novelists of angst" of the second half of the last century. Yates inspired the whole school of writers from the last decades of 20th century american fiction - Dubus, Carver, Ford, etc. It's tough sledding emotionally, but Yates is a master - reading a collection of his short stories now.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: GUEST,Nigel Spencer (cookieless)
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 12:03 PM

Finally got round to reading Ian McEwan's 'Atonement' ... which I'd definitely recommend. I've avoided McEwan for years because I didn't get on with his early books. Just finished a secondhand copy of Bob Pegg's 'Rites and Riots' - a history of folklore rituals in Britain and Europe (seasonal rituals, mumming, begging rituals etc). Excellent stuff!

Cheers

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Amos
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 11:52 AM

I am partway through an explorer's narrative book on early discoveries in the country of the Masai, East Africa, north and east of Mombasa, written in the mid-1800's.

Unfortunately I do not recall the name at present.


A

Subject: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: dulcimer42
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 11:50 AM

I just finished Alleluia America! An Irish Journalist in Bush Country. Fun reading about the perspective of an Irish lady as she travelled across America.