Current book being read/just finished

[Troy Loney]

About 3/4th's of the way through Confederacy of Dunces. Ignatius is easily the funniest character I've ever come across in literature.

I love that book so much.

I'm really upset that I didn't get around to reading this until age 31.

[Gaucho]

I'm really upset that I don't remember whether I read it or not.

[dodint]

I'm feeling kind of dumb since I've never heard of it.

[Troy Loney]

Finished it last night. If you would appreciate the comical exploits of a protaganist who's nihilism and rejection of modern society is based on appreciation for medival philosophy and culture. His political goals include the restoration of a monarchy based on divine right.

[dodint]

Ah, nah. I'm good. Thanks though.

As in the movie thread, I draw the line at fantasy/divinity.

Spoiler:

*zing!*

[Troy Loney]

Half Price Books is have a clearance event at the monroeville expo mart June 13-15.

http://www.hpb.com/061/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm going to break one of my fundamental tenets (never go to monroeville), and make the trip.

[columbia]

It's a good thing for you that it's not in Greensburg.

[largegarlic]

I recently finished Moby Dick (as an audio book). That was really fantastic, obviously. The categorization of different types of whales got to be a bit much at times, but there were definitely enough other highlights to outweigh that stuff.

I'm almost finished with The Bully Pulpit, Doris Goodwin Kearn's book on the relationship between Teddy Roosevelt, William Taft, and the muckraking journalists of the early 1900s. I watched an interview with her on The Daily Show, and she said that this book was basically her attempt to figure out what we did the last time we were faced with such economic inequality. I don't think this book is quite as good as Team of Rivals, but she doesn't have as exciting material to work with either (freeing the slaves vs. tariff reform).

[dodint]

I'm currently reading tiny snippets of Tolkien taken out of context and reworded to suit the opposing views of 21 different people.

Spoiler:

I kid, I kid.

[Digitalgypsy66]

OK, I finished Lewisohn's new Beatles biography, Tune In. I've talked about it in a couple of other threads, and it is excellent. There is an expanded version available in the UK - 1700 pages (!), but I stuck to the U.S. version, 803 pages (and another 150 of notes, index etc.) If you have interest in the Beatles or pop music, this is a great read. Shame that it'll be another 6+ years until we get volume two. This book goes up until the end of 1962, right before they explode in the U.K.

Next, I read Andy Weir's The Martian in one day. Great book about a stranded astronaut on Mars. Technical, but not ridiculously difficult to read. Definitely worth checking out.

I'm currently 100 pages into Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, an alternative history that has the Axis powers winning World War II. Very interesting so far, and I've heard SyFy network is making a miniseries out of it soon.

Next week, Alan Furst's new novel drops - Midnight in Europe. Like with all of his recent novels, they are set in the years prior to or during World War II. Spy stories in Prague, or Greece, and Paris...but never the main or big "battles" of the war.

So much to read. So little time.

[dodint]

Fantasy folks, little help? I remember the book that broke me for the fantasy genre, but I don't know what it's called. The only reference to it I can find online are from other people with the same problem:


From: http://whatwasthatbook.livejournal.com/2049709.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Spoiler:

I'm looking for a YA novel (I believe) from *at least* 20 years ago. A turnstile is found in a swamp. I think the main characters may have been following an owl or other bird through the swamp when they found the turnstile in the first place. Going through the turnstile makes any metal carried (such as coins) burning hot. Beyond is a magic fantasy land (of course) with a wizard who can disintegrate people, leaving only the skull. I definitively remember that transportation by the main characters was via a large snake. Whether the snake was flat- or not- and whether it really could fly- or not- I can’t say for sure, but I’m pretty sure that it was both flat and could fly (almost like a living magic carpet)!

In the final pages/chapters of the book there was a storm that blew down a lot of the swamp and they were unable to find the turnstile anymore. And there were actually scouting incursions from the magic world into our own in the second half of the book. One of the main supporting characters was disintegrated by the evil wizard early on, but at the end of the story after the wizard’s defeat everyone was “re-integrated” back to life.

From: http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/52 ... asies.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Spoiler:

Book 1:

As I recall, a number of children find a turnstile on an island in a swamp and go through it to a fantasy land. Passing through the turnstile causes everything metal to get really hot and burn (such as coins in their pockets). In this land there is a "flying snake" that they can ride on for transportation, and a sorcerer/wizard whose shtick seems to be burning people until only their skull is left, which actually happens to one of the main characters. Hopefully this is just one book... and I'm not combining stories.

The swamp, turnstile, and burning metal is what stuck for me.

[IanMoran]

I'm currently 100 pages into Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, an alternative history that has the Axis powers winning World War II. Very interesting so far, and I've heard SyFy network is making a miniseries out of it soon.

I haven't read a book for just enjoyment in about probably 7 years.. I have an urge to for some reason.. starting out with this, sounds really interesting to me

[dodint]

I have a similar book called Third Reich Victorious. It was given to me as a gift and I still haven't read it yet. Should probably at least open it. Someone told me it was alternative history but it could be a white power propaganda book for all I know.

[lemieuxReturns]

Anyone read 'the golem and the jinni'?

[MRandall25]

It is a collection of alternate history(ies) essays (@ dodint).

I had a history professor who used to write them and make us read some of them. They're all fairly interesting and it makes you think just how little had to happen for the entire landscape of the war to change.

[dodint]

Ah, cool. It's been on the shelf for years. Having digested all of Weinberg's A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II I haven't made a return trip to that war.

[count2infinity]

Edit: holy big image...

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[Digitalgypsy66]

I read John Le Carre's Our Kind of Traitor, from 2010. Good, solid work...not a Smiley novel, but very entertaining.

Next up is Matt Taibbi's "The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap," which so far recounts how wealthy, politically connected banks and corporations escape justice for financial malfeasance. Taibbi's a good writer, even if you don't agree with his politics.

[Digitalgypsy66]

I finished up "The Divide," and I have to say, it was quite eye opening. Essentially, Taibbi contrasts how wealthy bankers/traders and corporations escape prosecution for these crimes because they can outspend other banks and the government in defense attorneys. Death by many affidavits and other barrages of paper. Meanwhile, violent crime is down across the country, but big cities are arresting record numbers of people for trivial things like "Obstructing Pedestrian Traffic" in order to pad stats and catch the occasional bail jumper or outstanding warrant.

Want food stamps? In California, you are subject to search by a welfare official, who goes through your cabinets, underwear drawer and so on - essentially giving up your Fourth Amendment rights. Interestingly enough, the policy nationally began to change when Bill Clinton wanted to get back some southern (conservative) voters.

Next up is Alan Furst's Midnight in Europe.

[Troy Loney]

Next up is Matt Taibbi's "The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap," which so far recounts how wealthy, politically connected banks and corporations escape justice for financial malfeasance. Taibbi's a good writer, even if you don't agree with his politics.

I don't think I could handle reading that.

I'm reading David Halberstram's The Fifties and Recognitions by William Gaddis.

Recently read Richard Ford's the Sportswriter and American Pastoral by Philip Roth. Enjoyed both.

[Kraftster]

Is there a Halberstram character in American Psycho? I feel like I read that name in Patrick Bateman's voice.

[Pavel Bure]

Am I the only one that thinks Shel Silverstein is kinda overrated?

[eddysnake]

Am I the only one that thinks Shel Silverstein is kinda overrated?

just read the giving tree. Can't say he's overrated after that. I still tear up every time I read it to my kids. Although being overated is subjective, so maybe he is for you?

[eddysnake]

Wife was at the library and picked me up Perfect Circle by Sean Stewart. Got through half of it last night. Book cover says it's a novel about Texas, ghosts, and perfect pop songs. So far that's spot on, nice refreshing adult read, pretty funny too

[pens9192]

I have a list of about ten books I want to read but I can't find the time right now. Can't wait to start reading again. I want to start off by reading Jurassic Park but I have read that about five times (it is the adult book I have read the most) and should really read something else, haha. Maybe I'll try Dan Brown's novels.