What book are you reading?

[pinetreelover]

I am about half way into "Crossing to Safety" by Wallace Stegner (thanks to Dawn and others) and LOVE it!!! Did I mention that I LOVE this book?!? Seriously, I'm half way or so and I already find myself slowing it down to make it last even longer.

I am so glad that I got it in paperback rather than on my Kindle because I'm having a delightful time annotating, underlining, looking up words... The imagery is amazing. I'm totally smitten.

Has anyone else who read this book also read "Rules of Civility"? I wonder if Amor Towles, author of "Rules" was inspired by this book? There are definitely some similarities (though Crossing to Safety is far superior) including reference to a character named Tink. Hmmm.....

I'm going to get every one of Stegner's books. Every single one.

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by pinetreelover

I am about half way into "Crossing to Safety" by Wallace Stegner (thanks to Dawn and others) and LOVE it!!! Did I mention that I LOVE this book?!? Seriously, I'm half way or so and I already find myself slowing it down to make it last even longer.

I am so glad that I got it in paperback rather than on my Kindle because I'm having a delightful time annotating, underlining, looking up words... The imagery is amazing. I'm totally smitten.

Has anyone else who read this book also read "Rules of Civility"? I wonder if Amor Towles, author of "Rules" was inspired by this book? There are definitely some similarities (though Crossing to Safety is far superior) including reference to a character named Tink. Hmmm.....

I'm going to get every one of Stegner's books. Every single one.

YAY!!! I'm so glad that you're loving it as much as I did. It was a magical find for me. I came across it in a Goodwill store, read the back, and said, "Eh. What the hell? May as well try it." It was the first that I had heard of Wallace Stegner. I'm so happy that (a) it was there on the Goodwill shelf and (b) that I didn't pass it by. It was one of those rare finds -- perfection.

This wasn't the one that he won the Pulitzer for (that was Angle of Repose), nor the one that he won the National Book Award for (that was for The Spectator Bird), but it should have won EVERY prize. I read those two prize winners, too, along with a few other Stegner books, and none held a candle to Crossing to Safety, at least for me. For me, Crossing to Safety was as perfect as a book could get.

I did like Remembering Laughter by him, though, again even more than the two award winners. But, (again again), there's no book NEARLY as good as Crossing to Safety. Just my opinion.

I did read Rules of Civility -- and loved it -- and I never thought of similarities. Hmmm. Interesting. I'm dense like that.

[LookinForMayberry]

I finished "The Night Strangers" last night, and though it kept me up late I still had to read a chapter of "Up" to clear my mind of the ending. It was chilling to my core.

It definitely satisfied my yearly Halloween scary story read need.

[Mayvenne]

Well you all had me hyped up about william stegner, so when I was picking up another book ( think it was garden of the beasts) I picked up All the little things or something like that by stegner. I did try it and really could barely get past the first 2 pages. But again, reading your raves about his other books, i will definitely give them a try. I have to look at the spectator bird because I think I read that within the last few years or I am confusing it with something else. I guess Crossing to Safety is the one I should look for. (and I did read Rules of civility and liked it).
I am going to read, on a totally different bend, the Happiness Project. Seems like a good one to read in the storm, power permitting

[netwit]

I was looking for Lucifer's Hammer to reread but I can't find it so I read Larry Niven and Belinda Cooper's Building Harlequin's Moon. I quite enjoyed it but I am miffed that I can't find my copy of Lucifer's Hammer.

In looking for that book, I also came across Bad Land by Jonathan Raban - a used book I had picked up somewhere at some time and not read. It came out in 1996 and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for non-fiction.

It focuses on the settling of eastern Montana in the early 1900s. Early on in the book I came across the phrase, "the crooning wind" and almost put it down on the spot. The wind on the plains/prairies does not croon. Ever. It howls. It whistles. It keens. It shrieks but it does not croon.

But then later the writer describes the veritgo you can get on the plains and he has it exactly right. I'm almost halfway through and although the "crooning wind" phrase is stuck in my ear like a bad song, it's still a worthwhile read.

Well, I need to do some actual work now.

[LibertyForever]

Tried to read couple books last night one about Robert E Lee and one called The Camel Club..just couldn't get into them so put them down gonna pack them up.

[SuperSoul]

Stop Walking On Eggshells is about labeling and dealing with people with "Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)."
Some parts are interesting - since I have had relationships with people diagnosed with BPD.
However, there's a tendency for the authors to inappropriately place blame.

I lost a significant degree of trust in the authors when they contradicted themselves by describing BPD first as both a result of biology and environment, then exclusively biology. Blaming one's behavior on biology is not helpful, nor is it based on truth. Similarly, the authors' normalizing those obsessed with homosexual fetishes, is inappropriate, especially in light of the authors' responsibility to mental health.

[DawnMTL]

We seem to have survived Hurricane Sandy. One big limb down in the back yard, some pretty serious winds, quite a bit of rain, but that was it. We certainly got nothing as horribly dramatic as they got in NYC and other places. My heart is with them. It's raining now and they're calling for thunderstorms all day, but if the wind has passed us, I'm taking that to mean that Sandy has left the vicinity. Phew!

I'm reading The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. I've heard that you don't know who dies at the end but that it was meant to be that way. The writing, so far, is superb.

[ylisa7]

I started reading "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. I tried to get into it but I found the author too long winded. I like descriptions of course but I hate when things are so drawn out that the story never gets anywhere.

So I went back to a favorite author and started "The Undertaker's Widow" by Phillip Margolin. So far so good

[Mikala43]

Originally Posted by cloven

Haven't read this^, but I do have the author's blog (same name as title of book) bookmarked & check in on it every so often. Site has good links & is updated regularly (w/new entries), it's worth my time.

Just finished book (of unconventional self-help essays) with incredibly long unwieldy title, “This is How: Help for the Self Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike.” by Augusten Burroughs, 2012.

Had heard/read a lot of positive reviews/mentions of the author's work over the years, but had never bothered to seek out any of his books. This one was on the "new" shelf at library-I paged through it and was impressed. Thought it was darn good, with lots of great lines (to my mind, at least) that I'm likely to use in future comments on C-D

Thanks for the recommendation. It's weird... I'm 45 and never had an interest in self-help books, but all of sudden I'm curious.