What book are you reading?

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by LookinForMayberry

If a setting in the 30's has your interest, my favorite book by Steinbeck was Tortilla Flat (1935). DH and I listened to it, but it was a great story and kept our interest throughout.

"Billy Bathgate" by E.L. Doctorow (one of my favorite authors) comes highly reviewed in GoodReads, but I haven't actually read that one. (I loved "Ragtime.")

I cannot recommend William Faulkner's "Absalom, Absalom" (1936) -- I tried for three years to read that book, and could never get past page three! I did read "As I Lay Dying" (1930) and, frankly -- I wished it had been a shorter illness.

That's the best I can do....

And it wasn't just the 1930s (an era that I love), but the 1930s in PARIS (even better)! Still, though, the soap opera of it was just too much.

Had it been the 1920s in Paris, though, I'd likely have forgiven anything. Ahhh, 1920s Paris -- you could set ANY story in that time and place, and I'd stay until the end.

The only E.L. Doctorow book that I enjoyed was The Word's Fair. I really enjoyed that a lot.

As to the others that you listed, I can't read the classics. While the stories are probably terrific, the style of writing just doesn't work for me. I like a story SET in the 1920s or 1930s or earlier or later, but those that were written then just make me stabby. The writing feels so old-fashioned (well, I guess it is if it was written back then) and staid.

I know... I'm a finicky reader.

[DawnMTL]

I have so little self-control. I have 70+ unread books on my Kindle (have I mentioned that a hundred times in different posts already???) and I don't usually buy books when they first come out but this one is not available on Kindle from my library and it has me SO intrigued, I sucked it up and bought it. (Long sentence! Phew! Breathe...)

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt.

I think I feel connected to it because much of the story is about a young girl and her relationship with her uncle. I have an uncle who has a huge place in my life and heart, so...

I won't read any tonight (too tired), I have a full workday tomorrow, but at least it's there when I'm ready.

[Ketabcha]

Originally Posted by jtur88

I want to get "In the Garden of the Beasts" by Erik Larson next, it was checked out at the library, and due back today, but now I see that it has been renewed by the borrower. I feel like I've been sniped on Ebay. Has anybody read that?

That is one of the best books I have read in the last year. I could not put it down. I learned so much about our ambassador to Germany during Hitler's rise. I actually got mad at the good ol' boy network in the foreign service back in the 30s and 40s.

It's an extremely interesting book and it is well written.

[Exitus Acta Probat]

SAS Survival Handbook for Any Climate In Any Situation

[LookinForMayberry]

I am down to the last 56 pages of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche's "Born in Tibet" and the suspense is terrifying, even though (of course) I know they escape and he lives to write the book!

For years I've seen the "Free Tibet" bumper stickers and read the teachings of the Dalai Lama, but never before have I really understood what terrors the Tibetan people, by nature peaceful and joyful, endured -- and still endure today. It just sickens me. There are times, like now, that I just have to put it down and go do something else.

[The Time Baroness]

If you have not read Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present" it is definitely a great place to start. I came to it after having my employees in Mexico reading Mexican newspapers to me during our lunch breaks -- and was astounded to learn how much news about America's (vicious) involvement in other countries that was never mentioned here. Soon after, we moved to Seattle, a book town, and I asked an independent seller to recommend a place to start learning about what we were doing around the world. She recommended that the place to start was right here and handed me Zinn's book. It was very painful reading.

Reading The People's History of the United States changed me forever. Thanks for posting this, Lookin' For Mayberry! Those who haven't read it, I strongly suggest you have a go, though it does take a while to get through. Howard Zinn was a genius. It was a great loss when he died in 2010.

[The Time Baroness]

Oh, forgot to mention that I'm currently reading Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson - another genius, and I promise I don't use that word lightly. This one is a tome, as is the other book in the series, Crytonomicon (there may be another, I'm not sure). Stephenson is known as a sci/fi writer, but not your typical one. A long time ago, I read Snow Crash by him because my husband was in love with it. Sure enough, I fell in love too, and it remains one of our favorite books. We even named our car after the main character, Hiro Protagonist. Do you love it? Am I the only one who names my car, and names it after book characters? (We named the next car Semalu after a character in another of our favorite books, The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea).

Anyway, though Quicksilver is dense, and sometimes a little hard to follow, I'm beginning to really enjoy it. It's about the time when Newton was making his wondrous discoveries about gravity and many other things, and a fictional friend of his who experiments with alchemy. It's unbelievably clever and well-written. Very humorous as well.

[jambo101]

Hull 03 by Greg Bear..
A Huge colony ship has left Earth to colonize another planet,however a few of the thousands of passengers have awakened from being frozen for the duration of the trip only to discover something has gone terribly wrong.

[glamatomic]

I just finished re-reading Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham - now I DESPERATELY need to get to the book store to buy some new books

[jtur88]

"Searching Shakespeare". by Sarah Smith. First 40 pages last night are pretty good. A novel about people involved in uncovering evidence relating to who wrote Shakespeare's plays.