BS: Read any good books lately?

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 04:39 PM

Rowan, I found Fforde's, 'The Big Over Easy,' really entertaining. I'll never quite think of nursery rhymes in the same way. I quit on 'The Eyre Affair' about 50 pages in. But I must confess to having never read nor seen Bronte's original, so it I did not have a feel for the satire.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Kim C
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 04:54 PM

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Rowan
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 05:03 PM

All I can suggest, John, is that you persevere with The Eyre affair. I didn't find it a satire but the literary jokes and references definitely come thick and fast and there is a fair amount of lampooning going on. You're right about The big over easy but. although it and The fourth bear stand outside The Eyre affair sequelae there are crossreferences made.

If you've seen Jane Eyre on film or telly you've already got enough to pick most of the references in Fforde's books. And you should see what he does with Miss Haversham.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Jim Martin
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 08:38 PM

Just started re-reading 'The Boy at the Swinging Lantern' by Patricia Lynch (an internationally popular Cork, Eire author) which I originally read and enjoyed very much when a child 50 odd years ago. It tells of the fortunes of a boy on leaving school in the 1950's rural Ireland, very nostalgic! Sure sign of getting old, I suppose!

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Jim Martin
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 09:10 PM

Patricia Lynch:
http://www.catholicauthors.com/lynch.html

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Jim Martin
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 06:51 AM

Refresh

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: GUEST,Jim Martin
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 05:00 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:13 AM

The Tale of Genji - Legends & paintings. intro by Miyeko Murase

One of Japan's greatest literary masterpieces is brought to life through 54 colorful and detailed images that each illustrate one chapter of the novel.

It's a very beautiful book - & much easier to read that the 1168 page translation I have owned for at several years & not yet started.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: autolycus
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 04:59 PM

Recently started Flat Earth News by journalist Nick Davies.

it's a criticism of the failings of the Anglo-American media.

The media criticise all and sundry. But does dog eat dog. If the mass media are criticised, where would you expect to know about it? In the mass media? You see the problem.

So the book is discussing the source of most of our info,much of our opinions. So that source must, itself, be examined.

Early on, he says, to the effect, most journalists don't usually know what they're talking about.


Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 05:24 PM

Docherty by William Mcllvanney.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Becca72
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 05:42 PM

Almost finished with "Chance" by Robert B. Parker. It's one of his Spenser books. I love his stuff because it's an extremely easy read and very entertaining.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 05:47 PM

I love the Spenser books, in fact I've read 'em all.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Becca72
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 07:36 PM

I've not read anywhere near all of them...but I'm working on it!

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Amergin
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 12:43 AM

The best of Penthouse Letters....

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: autolycus
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 09:32 AM

Also been enjoying dipping into a splendid dictionary - Grumpy Old Wit, assembled by Rosemarie Jarski.

Samples

If you don't like the way I drive, stay off the sidewalk. (Joan Rivers)

These days, I favour older men. They don't have such awful taste in music.   (Jerri Hall)

Don't trust anyone whose job was created after 1990. (anon)

(Oscar Levant justifying a speeding ticket) You can't possibly hear the last movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony and go slow.

The devil must be an optimist if he thinks he make people meaner. (Karl Kraus)

One of the b i g weaknesses of the male sex is just being completely unable to see through beauty.   (Candace Bushnell)

President Nixon's motto was if two wrongs don't make a right, try three.   (Norman Cousins)

Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes,working jobs we hate,so we can buy shit we don't need. (Chuck Palahniuk)


   Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 10:11 PM

"Almost finished with "Chance" by Robert B. Parker. It's one of his Spenser books. I love his stuff because it's an extremely easy read and very entertaining."

                     I can read anything by Robert B. Parker, but I've never been able to figure out just what his appeal is. I think it has a lot to do with the pace of the novels. Each chapter starts out with a new setting, so all of the narrative that would be devoted to getting from one place to another is bypassed. And he can be funny; that helps. I finished reading "Now and Then," a while back.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Thomas the Rhymer
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 03:19 AM

Recently put "Pillars of the Earth" safely out of reach after swearing through 250 pages... I've seen kids do more realistic character studies with cardboard cut outs pasted onto popsicle sticks...

Enjoyed about half of "An Unfinished Life" a JFK biography... I'll get back to it soon.

Just finished "Robinson Crusoe"... and loved every word... even though many of them are considered 'archaic'...;^) After I had finished it I happened to glance at the back cover, and noticed it said "...has been praised by such writers as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Samuel Johnson as one of the greatest novels in the English language".

Rousseau happened to like it heartily too.

Just got a biography of Aldous Huxley... and I'm going to start reading it in about 5 minutes.

ttr

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Flash Company
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 12:14 PM

Just finished 'London in the 20th Century' by Jerry White, Excellent , the man has a marvelous turn of phrase and produces some very pithy comments on folk we all know.
Think I may start all the Discworld books from the beginning again.

FC

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 05:53 AM

The Book of Lost Books, An Incomplete History of All the Great Books You'll Never Read, by Stuart Kelly, a look at the works of notable authors that have been lost, destroyed, or never completed over the course of history.


from Homer to Shakespeare to ....

I loved it, tho some professional reviewers didn't

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: kendall
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 07:27 AM

100 years of solitude bored me to tears. On the flip side, I liked the Tale of two cities, the Illiad, the Oddysey and Moby Dick.

Anyway, I just finished "Eaters of the Dead", and found it to be a very poor version of the Beowulf saga.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 10:29 AM

"100 years of solitude bored me to tears."


                        Me too!

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 11:46 AM

Oh, I do love these threads. Lots of new titles to explore, ones I've read recalled and reminders of things to re-read. I have just finished Embers by hungarian author Sandor Marai, it is a wonderful exploration of love and friendship, among other things. It is also beautifully written. Have also recently read the following The Orament of The World by Maria Rosa Menocal, it is about the meshing of cultures, Jewish, Christian and Muslim, in early Spain. Also reading some old fashioned travel Books.The Road to Oxiana by Robert Byron, written in the 30's about a journey to Afghanistan. A short Walk In the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby, great read and My Journey to Lhasa by Alexandra David Neel. and a grand old victorian ripping yarn, Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Bradon. And finally a wee Edwardian Gem by Ivy Compton Burnett, A House and it's Head.
   Thanks again to all, a very enjoyable thread.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: ard mhacha
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:03 PM

I have just read over again an old book im my collection called `The long march of everyman`, the book was adapted from a BBC radio series with extracts from peoples lives from 1750 to 1960.
Some of the stories are heart-rending, at the height of the British Empire poverty was at its height,and the suffering of the poor is told by those who were on the verge of starvation. An enlightening but also a harrowing read.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: irishenglish
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:08 PM

Just finished The Historian, which I found pretentious, and very undramatic. Currently reading a funny travel book called Narrow Dog to Carcassonne about an English couple taking a canal boat across the Channel and travelling through the French canals. Funny at times, but a little too clipped at the same time-just when you think he has found a topic to expand upon, he stops right there, and he's on to something else. Best book I read this year so far though is Kate Atkinson 's Case Histories.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:20 PM

Hen Harrier, can you provide a bit of information regarding the Patricia lynch book, Boy At The Swinging Lantern ? It sounds intriguing. Is it still in print..ISBN No? Publisher. I can find no trace at my Public Library nor on Amazon. Thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 01:41 PM

Just finished the second in Philip Pullmans trilogy. Read 'Northern Lights' (made into a film under title Golden Compass) and second is called 'Subtle Knife'. Plan to get the third 'Amber Spyglass' out of the library this weekend.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: john f weldon
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 06:42 PM

Well, Mrs Duck, i just finished the series. It starts out fun, but seems to get lost.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 06:51 PM

sorry to be so low brow

A Killing Frost - the latest RD Wingfield. I loved it.

Inspector Frost at his naughtiest, and penpusher Inspector Mullet in an unholy alliance with the new Chief Inspector look like they might do for him this time.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 07:19 PM

I'm trying to read a Vince Flynn book. I don't know why they sell so well.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 07:40 PM

I liked the Dark Materials and thought the ending was quite interesting, considering the age group at which it is aimed.

I'm onto 'Pale Horseman', the second of the Saxon Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell. This guy is one of my favourite authors, although I haven't been tempted with the Sharpe books at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: GUEST,heric
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 07:48 PM

The Book of Lost Books reminds that I did read a good book in The Book of Lost Things though it is certainly not for everyone (kind of a fairy tale gone bad), which further reminds me of Black Swan Green (yet another adventure of a ten year old) which I really loved. (yes these threads are fun and useful.)

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: kendall
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 07:51 PM

Some years ago I read one titled "Way of the lanturn" It was a novel set in the midst of the French revolution. Excellent story.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Gulliver
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 09:48 PM

I'm reading, firstly, A Perfect Spy by John le Carré. It's interesting enough but far from being the "best novel since the war", as is trumpeted all over the cover, IMO.

Also reading Cruel Way by Ella Maillart about her trip overland with Anna Schwarzenbach to Afghanistan in 1939. I find it particularly interesting because I followed almost the same route (though a good deal later). It's well-written with feeling and she certainly knows her history.

And finally, the Destruction of Dublin by Frank McDonald, about the planning shenanigans that went on in the 60's and 70's.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Amos
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 10:26 PM

I second LEJ's recommendation of The Kite Runner, the best picture of recent Afghanistan I have ever read.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 01:09 AM

HiLo, here's some info on the author the Boy With the Swinging Lantern: Click Here. It was published in 1952. I checked for it at www.addall, which searches a bunch of bookseller databases and nothing came up. Seems it may be a bit rare?

Loved Alexandra David Neel's My Journey to Lhasa.

wld, no worries. I've been doing tons of murder mysteries lately, too! Anything by John Lescroart, Stephen White, Michael Connelly...and, of course, the British authors, too. Any "inspector" novel I can find!:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 11:13 AM

Thank you katlaughing, I did find that site and have since found that the book is currently out of print. If you enjoyed My journey to Lhasa, you may also enjoy The Valley of The Assasins by Freya Stark.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Gulliver
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 03:08 PM

Funny you should mention The Valley of The Assassins by Freya Stark--I was reading one or two chapters of it last night as Ella Maillart mentions the Old Man of the Mountain in Cruel Way. A favourite of mine is Trespassers on the Roof of the World by Peter Hopkirk, who also wrote the Great Game.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 04:05 PM

I liked Bill Wyman's book about the blues also - some great pictures

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Rowan
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 10:53 PM

A couple of weeks ago I read the latest of Alexander McCall Smith's No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series; I forget its name but it follows its predecessors' gentle path.

A week or so ago I reread Chris Cunningham's The Blue Mountains Rediscovered, a shafting of the myth attributing the first crossing of the Blue Mountains (west of the penal colony at Port Jackson, the site of Sydney) to Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson in 1813, instead of to John Wilson in 1798, let alone uncounted generations of the local Aboriginal peoples.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 11:06 PM

Thanks for the recommendation, HiLo. I am going to the used bookstore tomorrow so shall look for it.

I am about half-way through Dixie City Jam a murder mystery by James Lee Burke featuring a detective "Dave Robicheaux." I've not read any others by this author. His portrayal of New Orleans and other southern Louisiana areas is very interesting and colourful. It was written pre-Katrina, so I keep thinking I wonder if this landmark and that still exist. So far it's pretty good. Not a favourite, yet, but worth picking up.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: ard mhacha
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 06:35 AM

Gulliver,I bought a hardback re-print of The Assassins by Bernard Lewis, a very detailed read of the fore-runners of to-days suicide bombers, nothing stood in their way in pursuit of their appointed victim.
First published in 1967.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: dulcimer42
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 05:18 PM

Three fascinating, revealing, horrifying books of life, as a female in Saudi Arabia: Author: Jean Sasson. Books are : Princess,    Princess Sultana's Daughters, and Princess Sultana's Circle. Read them in order, to receive the best understanding.    I could scarcely lay them down until I finished reading them!

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: dulcimer42
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 05:29 PM

For those of you who love to read:   I've discovered a great website: Paperbackswap dot com.   You list 10 or more books which you would trade. For every book you trade, you get a point.   You can get a book from someone else for the cost of a point. Only cost is postage. I hear of a good book and head to this site , and it generally is available. I now have a backlog of about 8 books setting beside my recliner "to be read!" This was a real find for me. Current bestsellers seem to move rapidly. I receive it from the list, read it and relist it, and receive another point for another book........

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Padre
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 08:54 PM

"A Blessed Company"- Parishes, Parsons and Parishioners in Anglican Virginia, 1690-1776. A wonderful book describing the Anglican Parishes in Colonial Virginia

Great Factoid: Beginning in 1696, Anglican clergy in Virginia were paid a salary of 16,000 pounds of tobacco, which was never increased until clergy salaries were discontinued in 1776. That's a long time between pay raises!

Padre

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 10:06 PM

dulcimer42, THANK YEW!! I can hardly wait to start using the paperback swap site. What a nifty idea. The only thing is it makes me feel badly for our local used bookstores. I will probably still try to support them now and then. BUt, I've already found several book on that site which are never available at the bookstores here.

Thanks!

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 11:13 PM

Just read an old copy of "Forty Lashes Less One". It's an Elmore Leonard western about some convicts in Yuma prison in the late days of the American West. Damn good story...and quite funny in places too. I recommend it if you can find it at the used book store or the library.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: dulcimer42
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 11:37 PM

Katlaughing, I still support the stores. Because with each new book I read, and then post...... it continuously builds. It allows me to order another, which I read and post, allowing me to get another.....   And membership is free. They say it might be necessary, in the future, to have a memb. fee. But I think it will still be well worth it.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: john f weldon
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 07:53 AM

A long bout of pneumonia, with not much I could do but lie abed and read. First the Xmas Books:

Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy: Starts out fun, but gets confused later.
The Rum Diaries (Hunter Thompson): Aimless drifting, but entertaining.
A Deepness in the Sky (Ventnor Vinge): Not as good as the wonderful Fire in the Deep.

...and then I ran out of new stuff, and started to plumb the mustier shelves of my library, and found....

Philosophical Dictionary (Voltaire): which holds up very well after 250 years! Witty, wise and strangely current!

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: kendall
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 03:34 PM

I wish C.S. Forrester could still write.I loved his Hornblower series.

Subject: RE: BS: Read any good books lately?
From: freda underhill
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 05:13 PM

I'm reading The Death of Dalziel by Reginald Hill. I love his Dalziel and Pascoe books, he writes with humour and great social understanding and insight. this one explores attitudes to terrorism, and white anglo fascism. Reginald Hill is a very warm, witty and evocative writer. his book Underworld was set against the background of the mining industry and is as a great novel as you can wish for.

freda