snuffbox 0 Report post Posted January 16, 2009 Finished Quentin Bell's biography of Virginia Woolf a couple days ago. It's ok but, like everything else I've read about Woolf and her periphery, it doesn't seem to really capture her full life. It will probably take somebody with at least a touch of insanity to wrote a book about her that really comes close to getting the full person/story. Little something for Smitty: There's a nice little book out there called 'Lyndon Johnsons War,' or something like that. It's short but a fairly good look into the Vietnam War. It's written (true story) by a Dr. Michael Hunt. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0 Report post Posted January 16, 2009 Why'd this get unpinned? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cheech Tremendous 0 Report post Posted January 16, 2009 Maybe a precursor to the Comic Books folder becoming a Literature folder? We can hope. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Obi Chris Kenobi 0 Report post Posted January 16, 2009 I'm a bus and bath reader, in that I'll usually read when I'm on the bus going to and from work, or in the bath. I need something new to read - anything will do. If I enjoy it, I'll let you know. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Giuseppe Zangara 0 Report post Posted January 18, 2009 So I'm reading Ada, or Ardor. It gets off to a rough start since the first ten or so pages is just Nabokov throwing a bunch of Russian names at the reader, but once the story starts I like it well enough. That said, it's about as overwritten as his other books and his love of puns is a bit exhausting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snuffbox 0 Report post Posted January 26, 2009 I'm reading Truman again. I hope I'll be able to give my subjects the McCollough treatment if I get the opportunities to publish books. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0 Report post Posted January 28, 2009 John Updike died. The New Yorker won't ever be quite the same again. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Giuseppe Zangara 0 Report post Posted January 28, 2009 John Updike could be a very, very funny writer, a side of him that tends to be overlooked whenever people consider his (massive) body of work. As great as the Rabbit novels are, a good, non-Rabbit place to start is The Complete Henry Bech, or, if you can't find that collection, then Bech: a Book, which was the first book in the series. Of the Farm is also worth reading, a concise little novella that serves as one of his finest moments. That one was also one of David Foster Wallace's favorite Updike books, if that means anything to you. Of course, the Rabbit novels are wonderful, too. My favorite is Rabbit Is Rich, but you should just start with Rabbit, Run and read the rest in order. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Giuseppe Zangara 0 Report post Posted January 28, 2009 In related news, my custom member title of the last several months is an Updike reference. Real talk. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snuffbox 0 Report post Posted February 8, 2009 Lenny Bruce's How To Talk Dirty And Influence People has some funny moments. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Obi Chris Kenobi 0 Report post Posted February 9, 2009 Anyone know which John Le Carré book is best to start on? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LaParkaYourCar 0 Report post Posted February 9, 2009 Wal-mart's selling "There's a monster at the end of this book" for a mere $2.50 Chocked full of twists and turns and narrated by the cute, lovable, furry Grover. I finished it in 3 days flat! LOL when I was a little kid I tore my brother's copy of that book to pieces. When my mom asked who did it I came up with this elaborate excuse as to why it wasn't me that went something like this: Mom: Who tore up the book? Me: To see Grover Mom: No, not why did you tear it up, who tore it up? Me: Over by the crib Mom: No not where did you tear it up, who tore it up? Me: A man Mom: Which man? Me: A different one Mom: I think it was you wasn't it? Me: Maybe. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Big Ol' Smitty 0 Report post Posted February 11, 2009 I just now saw Edwin's EFA post. Guilty as charged. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Czech please! Report post Posted February 15, 2009 The Best American Nonrequired Reading of 2004 is one of my favorite down-time books. I recommend it to you for the same situations: waiting for class to start, waiting for someone to prepare your sandwich, or similar little fragments of time. Kaui Hart Hemmings, author of my favorite selection "The Minor Wars." Both she and her short story are impossibly cute. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Agent of Oblivion Report post Posted February 15, 2009 How do you pronounce that first name? Like the Hawaiian Island? Kwai? Cow-ee? Coy? Fuck off. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Czech please! Report post Posted February 15, 2009 My guess is rhymes with "wowie zowie" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Obi Chris Kenobi 0 Report post Posted February 15, 2009 Derren Brown's Tricks of the Mind is pretty interesting for anyone interested in how 'Magicians' do their stuff. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tonyjaymzretro 0 Report post Posted February 19, 2009 I just finished 2666 by Roberto Balano started off slow by by the end of its massive tale, it was well worth it. 2666 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cheech Tremendous 0 Report post Posted February 19, 2009 I've been reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This is not something I would typically go for, but I've enjoyed it thus far. The whole "anonymous letters" works nicely as storytelling device. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Giuseppe Zangara 0 Report post Posted February 19, 2009 Loved this. The last 30 pages floored me. Have you read any other Bolano? Last Evenings on Earth and The Savage Detectives were good and Nazi Literature in the Americas was a hoot. Whenever I brought the latter with me in public I always left the book jacket at home, as I didn't need that kind of attention. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EricMM 0 Report post Posted February 19, 2009 I enjoyed "The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BruiserKC 0 Report post Posted February 21, 2009 For Tom Clancy...I have recently really gotten into his non-fiction work. I enjoyed reading, "Every Man A Tiger-Inside the Gulf Air War Campaign" with former USAF General Chuck Horner. Also John Feinstein's, " The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever" is a good read. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted February 24, 2009 The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond starts off good enough, explaining the differences and similarities between humans and their closest relative in two types of chimps (common and pygmy). Relates stories of birds and new guinea which are typical from Diamond at this point, but the book sorta veered off course in the last third. It got more into cautionary tales and became more of an environmentalist book. So it's like two different books, and I think you could find a better book on each topic elsewhere. Not as good as Guns... but still a fairly easy read and you pick up some good science/biology along the way. Right now I'm reading Emergency Sex which I am absolutely loving. It's hard for me to get a book done in a week, but I think I'll polish this one off by Sunday. Great three person narrative; they do a good, quick, job established the three UN workers before meeting them up (which is cool reading the different perspectives of the same situation) and from there they convey a lot of the atmosphere of their host countries and the political climate they've entered in to. Only a third of the way through, but I couldn't recommend it more. *Edit* Absolutely adored Emergency Sex. Couldn't recommend a book more. Very telling indictment of the bureaucracy and politics of the UN, which has certainly shed them in a new light for me. Incredibly readable, informal in it's approach to subject matter that is often presented very formally. The book changed dramatically from when I first wrote about it a week ago to now. Dark, graphic, descriptions of Rwanda, Somalia, Liberia, Haiti, and Bosnia. It is difficult to believe things like that not only happened, but happened in my lifetime and are still happening today. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tonyjaymzretro 0 Report post Posted March 26, 2009 Shadow Warriors:A History of The US Army Rangers by Mir Bahmanyar is a great read, if you're at all interested in military history. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CuddlyKnife 0 Report post Posted September 1, 2009 So far it's pretty much exclusively on the doping allegations. Coyle probably assumed that anyone interested in the cancer stuff would read Armstrong's autobiography. It looks like he got a lot of info from Dr. Michele Ferrari (who's been accused of distributing illegal substances to other athletes), but he stated up front that he interviewed Ferrari on the condition that he not bring up anything about the illegal substances. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
