715 replies to this topic

[CherylR]

Christian, on 11 May 2011 - 11:31 AM, said:

(With links below to related discussions)

In paper, reading Mark Bertrand's Back on Murder

I enjoyed Back on Murder and would like to read his second novel, but finding the time right now to do so is really difficult to do.

[M. Leary]

Diamond Age, again. And I am slowly working through the Ian Banks Culture series. It is so-so.

[Ryan H.]

BORIS GODUNOV by Alexander Pushkin.

M. Leary, on 26 May 2011 - 12:35 PM, said:

And I am slowly working through the Ian Banks Culture series. It is so-so.

The ideas embedded into the world of the Culture novels are fascinating. The stories which Banks tells, unfortunately, do not always explore those ideas very well. But I've mostly enjoyed my time spent with the series, if only for its tremendous scale and occasionally impressive "popcorn storytelling" moments.

[winter shaker]

What's Wrong With The World by G.K. Chesterton.

It's a bit of a slog to get through, but I find it particularly interesting as I'm majoring in sociology and I think Chesterton has some interesting, and valid, things to say, despite the fact that the book is 100 years old.

[Ryan H.]

Some recent purchases:

The ESV translation of the Apocrypha. (The renderings of Wisdom and Sirach are particularly lovely.)

THE EGYPTOLOGIST by Arthur Phillips.

FAREWELL, MY LOVELY by Raymond Chandler.

[Andrew]

For pleasure: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer - only about 7 yrs after it was recommended in the United 93 thread, but better late than never! a beautiful, heartbreaking book

For professional edification: Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self-Esteem, and the Confidence Gap, by Peggy Orenstein - only 50 pages in, but so far seems both erudite and readable

Next up (I think):
- The Vietnam War and Theologies of Memory, by Jonathan Tran
- Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte

[Gavin Breeden]

Andrew, on 08 June 2011 - 03:02 PM, said:

For pleasure: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer - only about 7 yrs after it was recommended in the United 93 thread, but better late than never! a beautiful, heartbreaking book

Though I generally hate books like that (and, in fact, I did hate his first novel, "Everything is Illuminated"), I really loved that book. Read it in 2006. Probably about time to revisit it.

As I've mentioned in the TV forum, I'm currently reading "A Game of Thrones" and really enjoying it. Much better than the show.

Finished Tom Franklin's "Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter" last night. Pretty good Southern mystery/thriller type book.

Next up:

"Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship" by David Peterson
The next book in "A Song of Ice and Fire" series

[Christian]

Andrew, on 08 June 2011 - 03:02 PM, said:

For pleasure: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer - only about 7 yrs after it was recommended in the United 93 thread, but better late than never! a beautiful, heartbreaking book

I may have mentioned this in that earlier thread, or a related Lit thread, but when I listened to the audiobook of this, I was so overwhelmed by the conclusion that I just about drove off the road. Loved it.

I don't think I had a similar reaction to an audiobook until this year, as Emma Donaghue's Room reached its halfway point. I remember the section of Arlington Blvd. I was on, how much traffic was on the road (rush hour in the D.C. area -- crowded!) and how worked up I was.

[Christian]

Christian, on 09 February 2007 - 03:16 PM, said:

<!--quoteo(post=141628:date=Feb 9 2007, 02:12 PM:name=mrmando)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mrmando @ Feb 9 2007, 02:12 PM) </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><i>The Lost Painting</i> by Jonathan Harr. Fast but absorbing read about the search for Caravaggio's <i>The Taking of Christ,</i> which turned up in a Jesuit house in Dublin a few years back, after being mislabeled and then lost for centuries. Saw the painting at the National Gallery in Dublin, so naturally I had to read the book.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

That's a very enjoyable book. Did you see today's NY Times article about the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/09/world/europe/09florence.html" target="_blank">hunt for a lost Leonardo</a>?

Related:

Unknown Caravaggio painting unearthed in Britain

The painting, an intimate depiction of Saint Augustine dated to 1600, was found by a dealer in a private collection

[Andrew]

Work-related:
- A Bittersweet Season, by Jane Gross - part family autobiography, part analysis of the sociological and medical aspects of growing old and infirm, and part how-to book on being a responsible adult child for a parent in such a situation - 1/3 of the way through, and it's good, highly informative stuff

For my upcoming beach vacation:
- Consider the Lobster, by David Foster Wallace - found a copy in a used bookstore - for a while now, I've wanted to read a work by this much lauded, now sadly decreased, author
- Conversations with Scorsese, by Richard Schickel - not my favorite director, but flipping through a copy of this book at the library, I was immediately drawn into their articulate, accessible discussions

[Tyler]

Christian, on 08 June 2011 - 07:55 PM, said:

I don't think I had a similar reaction to an audiobook until this year, as Emma Donaghue's Room reached its halfway point. I remember the section of Arlington Blvd. I was on, how much traffic was on the road (rush hour in the D.C. area -- crowded!) and how worked up I was.

Room is the best audiobook (at least in terms of production) I've listened to. I thought I'd get tired of the narrator kid's voice, but I never did. It ended up adding a lot to the experience of the book.

[winter shaker]

The Four Loves - C.S. Lewis

[J.A.A. Purves]

Just finished Beauty Will Save the World. I'll post more on our link for it soon.

Currently working on:
Winter's Tale - by Mark Helprin
The Making of Modern Economics - by Mark Skousen
and
The Ghosts of Cannae - by Robert L. O'Connell

[Jason Panella]

Just finished George R.R. Martin's A Feast For Crows, the fourth book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. This book gets a fair amount of flak from fanboys, which I find ridiculous. I like how it takes a moment to stop and survey the carnage of the past three books, and has a meditative quality that works after all that's come before. It also introduces some interesting new characters, though I realize my definition of interesting might not mesh with everyone else's.

Also started Kate Atkinson's Case Histories, and I'm enjoying it a LOT so far.

Same goes for Michael Jarrett's Drifting on a Read: Jazz as a Model for Writing. It's fairly dense so far, but he thanks Byron Borger in the acknowledgments, so it can't be half bad.

[winter shaker]

Just started reading How Should We Then Live? by Francis Schaeffer (is there a separate topic for this book?)

[CherylR]

In the last two weeks I've finished Anna Karenina and a collection of short stories titled Nice, Big American Baby by Judy Budnitz. Currently I'm reading Flannery O'Connors Mystery and Manners. I never realized she had such a biting sense of humor. I've heard, and read last night, her quote on writing programs not killing enough writers, but have found many more zingers. Laughing while reading a craft book--usually not something I do. By the time I'm done, M&M is going to have as much highlighting and post-it flags as my copy of Walking on Water-meaning there will be more highlighted passages in the book than not.

All of the above for school.

Not related to school reading--Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Sin.

[Christian]

I'm giving the Hunger Games audiobook another shot. Disc one is going a bit better this time than it did during than my initial attempt.

[Jason Panella]

Reading:

The Magicians - Lev Grossman. This novel was billed as "Harry Potter in college!", which is somewhat misleading. But there are a lot of similarities thus far. It's a quick read, though I feel like the set-up is moving too fast.

A Dance With Dragons - George R.R. Martin. Sooooooooooooooooooooo good.

Two I'll start soon, but haven't yet: The Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

[John Drew]

Jason Panella, on 22 July 2011 - 09:22 AM, said:

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

I'll save you the trouble... Mariah.