Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by formulajay

Currently reading Oscar Wilde's play "The Importance of being Earnest". It is probably my 5th or 6th read, but I enjoy it every time. It is one of my favorite plays of all time. It is also quite a treat to see it performed

you can never read The Importance of Being Earnest too many times.

Originally Posted by montsnmags

You know, though I've meant to, I've never read any Oscar Wilde. I keep going to, but his witty quotes sometimes come across so smug-faced to me that he gets put on the backburner again (I'm not saying he is "smug-faced" - it's just a visceral reaction).

...actually, come to think, I have read "The Ballad of Reading Gaol", but, while good, I suspect he's more accomplished as a playwright and novelist than a poet.

You have pushed him back up The List though. Thank-you.

Cheers,
Marc

put it at the TOP of your list, seriously. you will roll on the floor laughing. *literally*. Wilde was a litterary silversmith. there's a reason we keep quoting him (occasional smug-facedness aside). you're doing yourself a disservice, not reading him.

[zelda_pinwheel]

arg, i bought a copy of the Revue N.O.I.R. N°1 (Nouvel Organon Inaliénable et Réflexif = New Inalienable and Reflexive Organon. that's right, it's an english word too. don't worry, i had to look it up myself) when i went to the presentation friday night, because a friend of mine has an article in it. now i have to read it. it's gigantic (nearly 400 pages), not digital (obviously) and full of articles like "Vernacular architecture and traditional techniques of construction as elements of social comprehension" which look fascinating but... heu... arduous. my friend's article is called "La "mistica" : social protestation and ritual theater in Brazil". i'm going to start with that one obviously and i better hurry : he called me sunday and said "so have you read it yet ?? what did you think ???"

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Just finished Small Gods (Terry Pratchett). I'd gotten a bit over halfway through before, then stalled out. It turns out I liked the second half of the book much better than the first half...

I find his books can be like that, often he's building up to some explanation of a mystery, and sometimes it's the latter half that describes the flipside of the Fool (that is, where the funny is, perhaps, seriously funny).

Small Gods has always been a favourite. Hogfather is right up there too.

Cheers,
Marc

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

...
put it at the TOP of your list, seriously. you will roll on the floor laughing. *literally*. Wilde was a litterary silversmith. there's a reason we keep quoting him (occasional smug-facedness aside). you're doing yourself a disservice, not reading him.

Bah! Fine, I'll put him at the top, but with all the other books running equal first at the top. Which first should I read first?

Cheers,
Marc (who has a box of TBRs as well as a CF-card full of them)

[Lobolover]

Finished "A warning to the curious" by M.R.James yesterday.

Now reading "A king for Ten minutes" by Jakub Arbes,the czech late 19th century master of the weird,and "The celestial omnibus" by E.M.Forster.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

Bah! Fine, I'll put him at the top, but with all the other books running equal first at the top. Which first should I read first?

Cheers,
Marc (who has a box of TBRs as well as a CF-card full of them)

I reckon 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' would be a good starting point.

But, if you don't want to add to your TBR pile, you could try some of the classic films that have been made of Wilde's plays.
My faves are:
Alexander Korda's 'An Ideal Husband' (1947)
Anthony Asquith's 'The Importance of Being Earnest' (1952)

[zelda_pinwheel]

a portrait of dorian gray is great, of course, but i admit my absolute favorite is Earnest... i just never get tired of it. i would start with that one. of course you could read Dorian Gray second...

[Lobolover]

"A haunted isle" by Blackwood .

[Joerg_Mosthaf]

Just finished "Ghost" by John Ringo - I need something else before continuing with "Kildar"

So I started Steve Jordans "The Oneissance Cells" - like it so far. I think I'm gonna avail myself of the "12 books for 10$" special at his homepage

[Lobolover]

"Man overboard!" by F.Marion Crawford .

[DixieGal]

Halfway thru Farthing by Jo Walton, loving it so far.

[nekokami]

I'm re-reading The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett, and I have to say that I am enjoying it more from the very first page than many of his other books (including Small Gods). Maybe I just like the characters better.

[Lobolover]

I have read most of Wakefield's "The red lodge"-anyone know of an e-book/excerpt which has the penultimate page shown/excerpted?

[GypsyWoman]

I am reading some of The Philo Vance Murder Cases by SS Van Dine. I am starting The Scarab Murder Case.

I had no idea the Philo Vance ebooks were available. This is wonderful since I can't find a lot of them in print.

[zelda_pinwheel]

i LOVE the Philo Vance books. i was so happy to discover them in ebook form, since i have read them previously in french, and they are soooo much funnier (and better overall) in english.