What book is everyone reading at the moment?

[Kiless]

Since last month I re-read in English " Justine" the first out of four books of the "Alexandrian Quartet" of Durrel. I was very much captivated by the language. English can be an amazing language sometimes.

I noticed that his series has been re-released in my country by Penguin Press. Once it was easier to find books by his brother, Gerald Durrell (who had some very amusing early reminiscences of Lawrence), with titles such as the 'My Family and Other Animals' autobiography series. Lawrence Durrell's 'Spirit of Place' was parodied (in title alone) by Gerald Durrell with 'Fillets of Plaice'.

I also read for the first time in my life a book of John Le Carre. The style seems more like a case of rather professed elegance but it's very amusing.

From what I read of your posts... I wonder what you would make of 'The Little Drummer Girl'.......

I wonder if I must read " The Da Vinci code"...

I was probably more fond of The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason or The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Although the hype for both was just as bad. Hype irritates me. But it shouldn't deter finding out for oneself.

Currently reading - Crunch Time: How to live a more ethical and meaningful life without giving up your worldly goods, joining a commune or losing your sense of humour,by Mike Hanley and Adrian Monck.

 

[Neutiquam Erro]

Dictators & Disciples: From Caesar to Stalin, by Gustav Bychowski

 

[Cleopatra]

I noticed that his series has been re-released in my country by Penguin Press.

Yeah I got my " Justine" in a Penguin Press edition.I two old copies in my Library but I cannot take those with me and read them in traffic.

Once it was easier to find books by his brother, Gerald Durrell (who had some very amusing early reminiscences of Lawrence), with titles such as the 'My Family and Other Animals' autobiography series. Lawrence Durrell's 'Spirit of Place' was parodied (in title alone) by Gerald Durrell with 'Fillets of Plaice'.

I have no idea of anything you said. Very interesting! I must do some reading. Now the next question. Which camp do you belong to? Durrell or Hemingway? Are you a decadent Mediterannean or a decadent American type?

From what I read of your posts... I wonder what you would make of 'The Little Drummer Girl'.......

I have seen the film. There is a scene where the Israeli agent( the role was performed by a Greek actor!) shows his body to Dean Keaton and he describes it as "the Map of Middle East". Many Israelis in real life are like that but mostly of the older generations. Although I don't like tattoos I love the scars from the battle field. This is what I remember from the film

I was probably more fond of The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason or The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Although the hype for both was just as bad. Hype irritates me. But it shouldn't deter finding out for oneself.

I have heard a wise man saying that he avoids reading books that they are not 10 years old at least.

Currently reading - Crunch Time: How to live a more ethical and meaningful life without giving up your worldly goods, joining a commune or losing your sense of humour,by Mike Hanley and Adrian Monck.

If I ever published the notes I took while I was quitting smoking by using Mercutio's behavioral methods the summary on the cover would sound pretty much the same.

 

[Jon.]

Nightmares Of Prominent Men (I think that's the correct title) by Bertrand Russell. Brilliant!

 

[LibraryLady]

I'm halfway through Carl Sagan's Broca's Brain and have just started Francis Wheen's How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World. I seem to be getting away from my usual detective thriller fare for something a little more serious.

I'm reading the Wheen book as well. One of those funny/scary books about how newage has infiltrated the government and so forth.

 

[Dinsdale Piranha]

An Army at Dawn - The War in North Africa, 1942-1943. The North African campaign is historically overshadowed by the European and Pacific theatres. This book chronicles the coming of age of the U.S. Army in WWII.

ETA written by Rick Atkinson.

 

[Temporal Renegade]

DisneyWar by James B. Stewart

A VERY informative book about Michael Eisner's rise & fall at the House of the Mouse. Or, as the cover blurb says:

'Once upon a time, one man ruled America's greatest entertainment company. This is the untold story of his triumphs and failures, and the revolt that cost him his kingdom...'


Go down a bit, to see one of Eisner's bigger missteps:
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He had, by way of Harvey & Bob Weinstein (of Miramax, that Disney had bought out), the VERY hard-to-get rights to something that the brothers thought was right up Disney's alley. Eisner told them to forget it, that no one wanted to see 'that kind of stuff at the movies anymore'; that Disney 'didn't make those kind of movies anymore anyway'. So, after much pleading and begging--Eisner wouldn't change his mind one bit--they finally found someone to buy the rights (keeping a percentage intact, so that Disney got about 5% of the gross, with the brothers getting 25% of that "without limitations", which Eisner thought wouldn't be all that much), then told their hand-picked director Peter Jackson to take Lord of the Rings over to New Line Cinema.
Oops.

 

[Calico]

I am reading James Randi's Flim-Flam.

 

[chipmunk stew]

Mine are all from the Pop-Smart department--

recently finished:
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (about late 19th century serial killer "H. H. Holmes" and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair)

now reading:
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (probably best known for Snow Crash)
Krakatoa by Simon Winchester (about the "biggest volcanic eruption in history")

 

[GrnMtSkeptic]

[BCryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (probably best known for Snow Crash) [/B]

Have your tried Bethke's Headcrash?

Krakatoa by Simon Winchester (about the "biggest volcanic eruption in history")

Great book. Read this then went to Volcano National Park on Hawaii. Very interesting to see some of the stuff he talks about for real.

 

[crimresearch]

Margaret Cho's autobiography, 'I'm The One'.

 

[chipmunk stew]

Have your tried Bethke's Headcrash?

I hadn't heard of it. It looks like it's gotten mixed reviews, but worth checking out. Thanks for the tip.

Originally posted by GrnMtSkeptic
eta--re: Krakatoa
Great book. Read this then went to Volcano National Park on Hawaii. Very interesting to see some of the stuff he talks about for real.

I've barely cracked the cover on this one, but it's already good.
One thing bothered me so far, though. He says on p. 15 (of the 2004 Perennial paperback edition) referring to control of the Eastern seas: "The Portuguese from the warm and lazy south were slowly driven out and replaced by doughty Europeans from the cold and more ruthless north."

That this is a gross misconception about the effects of latitude on civilization ought to be evident to an author who has done as much research as Simon Winchester obviously has done. Are his other conclusions & assumptions similarly suspect?

 

[athon]

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and Things That Never Happen by M. John Harrison.

Athon

 

[Cleopatra]

I am finishing Mark Mozower's Salonica, City of Ghosts : Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430-1950. It's an exciting book, Skeptic you must read it by all means!

I am also reading a Greek novel. The story takes place in a vinyard on the mountains where a young man creates the wine that carries the tastes, sounds,smels, touches of the things he loves in his life. It reminds me of " The Perfume" by Patrick Suskind in that. Nice story, not a masterpiece but a good reading for the beach.

 

[Mariah]

Reading

UNCLE TUNGSTEN: MEMORIES OF A CHEMICAL BOYHOOD
by Oliver Sacks, neurologist and author of AWAKENINGS and THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT. It is a memoir. He's that rare thing, a scientist who can write lyrically and well.

UNCLE TUNGSTEN is wonderful. I recommend it.

 

[Batman Jr.]

I'm currently reading Kafka's Amerika. You get a laugh at his grossly inaccurate descriptions of famous American monuments—he describes the Statue of Liberty as having a sword—but hey, you're really interested in the characters and how the inner facets of their psyches slowly and naturally unfurl when seen through the prismatic narratives the great master weaves.

 

[hgc]

Just finished The Coffee Trader by David Liss. It's about Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam in the 17th century and the nascent coffee trade on European commodities markets. A ripping good tale from a somewhat pedestrian word stylist.

Started Linked by Alert-László Barabási this morning. I'll report back.

 

[alfaniner]

The Catcher in the Rye

Boy, I'm right in the middle of the and it makes me kind of depressed. It really does. I don't like it much. I really don't.



Salinger-esque posting aside, I'm going to start (or find) a related thread because I simply do not understand why this book is so "important". I won't be checking back here until I'm done with it, to avoid spoilers.

 

[Mariah]

M. John Harrison's "Running Down"

Athon, et al,

I love M. John Harrison's THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPEN. I especially love "Running Down." I've read that story twenty times or more. I originally found it in an anthology of weird fiction edited by Thomas Disch. It had a different beginning back then, though. It started off telegraphing the earth-shaking ending.

 

[Skeptic]

I am finishing Mark Mozower's Salonica, City of Ghosts : Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430-1950. It's an exciting book, Skeptic you must read it by all means!

Heard about it. It's on my list.

As for my Greek, well--I am only starting, but I am absolutely AMAZED at how much Hebrew--and I don't mean contemporary Hebrew, I mean "good", Talmudic Hebrew--is really Greek. OK, so I knew or guessed that (for instance) Te'atron (theatre) or Itz'tadyon (stadium) are Greek, but doron (present)?! Me'chora (homeland, which at least seems to come from chora--country)?!?!

Cleo will understand me, but to the non-Hebrew speaking crowd, the first two words "feel" Greek, while the latter two "feel" like "pure" OT Hebrew, and I am very surprised that they aren't. Apparently there is a lot more Greek in Hebrew than I suspected.

I am also reading a Greek novel. The story takes place in a vinyard on the mountains

A mountain vinyard in Greece?! NO WAY!