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

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by orange!

Guess I'm the last person on earth to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks--just finished it. Glad I read it--some really interesting ideas and a well-told story.

Not quite, I still have it on my TBR.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I prefer the novels to the short stories. Try "Psmith in the City"; it's in the US public domain.

Thanks. I seem to have trouble setting into collections of short stories of any sort these days, I much prefer novels.

[Stitchawl]

I've just downloaded George Takei's book, "Oh Myyy! (There Goes The Internet)"
'Mr. Sulu' has become quite a popular personage on Facebook, and has developed a huge following with his witty and topical Social commentary. I'm curious to see if he can make it last through an entire book.

Stitchawl

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by gmw

Thanks. I seem to have trouble setting into collections of short stories of any sort these days, I much prefer novels.

Sorry, I've just noticed that you're in Australia, which means that (as with me) none of Wodehouse's work is in the public domain for you, so ignore my previous remarks about it being PD; it isn't.

[Rumpelteazer]

I'm currently reading The White Queen by Philippa Gregory, the first in the Cousins' War series. I saw the first episode of the TV adaptation and liked it. The book, however, isn't my thing, although I will finish it.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Sorry, I've just noticed that you're in Australia, which means that (as with me) none of Wodehouse's work is in the public domain for you, so ignore my previous remarks about it being PD; it isn't.

Thanks again. It's okay though, I'm not allergic to paper, and we have a very good second hand bookshop here.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: my oldest purchase that I think I haven't read: Time Tripper by Brian Larson, bought almost exactly 10 years ago, in July 2003.

I was wrong. I have read it before, but it's not worth a re-read.

So on to Wolverine's Daughter by Doranna Durgin, bought in October 2003.

[CRussel]

Well, that's one way to clear up your backlist.

I'm still only about 80% through The Wise Man's Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss. I'm enjoying it quite a bit. It's well written and has some telling turns of phrase. Plus the world seems to hold together, though I can't help wondering about the time frames for some things. Too bad I'll have to wait a year or more for the next one.

[Dr. Drib]

Just finished Joseph Conrad's "Almayer's Folly," which was his first novel.

A great first novel - and written in English. It's incredible to think about how this author mastered a third language and became, in the process, one of the most important literary writers writing in the English language.

I just purchased the Delphi Classics on Conrad, and will soon start reading his second novel.


Don

[poohbear_nc]

I have begun reading Bellefleur by Joyce Carol Oates - finally available in an ebook version - but with one of the most hideous covers I've ever seen mis-applied to a book.

It's been years since I first read it, and I was quite curious to discover if it was as wonderful as I had remembered it to be. And it is .... wonderful. I'm continually bowled over by Oates' ability to seemingly channel Henry James and construct vivid living sentences that flow over page after page, their sinuous syntactical complexity mirroring the genealogical and behavioral complexity of the cursed Bellefleur clan! It's a wild historical tale of greed, madness, and curses that would fit into a volume of tales by Poe. A pet spider named Love. A giant cat that arrives during a thunderstorm. A crumbling mouldering family mansion. A demonic pregnancy. Feuds! Skeletons in every family closet!

I'd write more paeans for this volume, but I want to get back to my ereader - I'm only half way through.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I have begun reading Bellefleur by Joyce Carol Oates - finally available in an ebook version - but with one of the most hideous covers I've ever seen mis-applied to a book.

It's been years since I first read it, and I was quite curious to discover if it was as wonderful as I had remembered it to be. And it is .... wonderful. I'm continually bowled over by Oates' ability to seemingly channel Henry James and construct vivid living sentences that flow over page after page, their sinuous syntactical complexity mirroring the genealogical and behavioral complexity of the cursed Bellefleur clan! It's a wild historical tale of greed, madness, and curses that would fit into a volume of tales by Poe. A pet spider named Love. A giant cat that arrives during a thunderstorm. A crumbling mouldering family mansion. A demonic pregnancy. Feuds! Skeletons in every family closet!

I'd write more paeans for this volume, but I want to get back to my ereader - I'm only half way through.

Which one is hideous?


....or both maybe...!

[poohbear_nc]

Both ... but the cover on the left is so completely inappropriate ...

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Which one is hideous?


....or both maybe...!

I pre-ordered this about 9 months before it came out as an ebook.

This is one of my favorite novels by Oates.

I've always been partial to the cover on the right, which is the one on my First Edition Hardback.



Don

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by caleb72

Next up, The Conjure Book by A A Attanasio, one of my favourite writers. I haven't read one of his novels for a while, so I'm about due.

Finished this one. I love Attanasio, he's one of my favourite authors. However, this one didn't do much for me. It's young adult which is probably the issue. I'm so accustomed to his beautiful prose and sophisticated ideas that a simplified version of him just fell flat for me. Additionally, this is faeries and gnomes - the kind of urban fantasy elements that just don't appeal to me like they used to.

Now I'm reading an indie effort which promises to be a bit different - a LBGT historical drama. It's The Pretty Gentleman by Max Fincher and I'll be reviewing it for my site. It's about a wide-eyed young painter who falls for his patron and is eventually betrayed. So - here I go.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I'm still only about 80% through The Wise Man's Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss. I'm enjoying it quite a bit. It's well written and has some telling turns of phrase. Plus the world seems to hold together, though I can't help wondering about the time frames for some things. Too bad I'll have to wait a year or more for the next one.

Finished it off this morning. I very much enjoyed both of the books in this series, and can only hope we get a new book fairly soon. But I don't actually expect it. Regardless, I recommend the series highly. (And the Audible version of the books is actually quite good, and works with Amazon's "WhisperSync for Voice", allowing one to go back and forth between the eBook and the audio book.