Readerville Veterans discussion
What are you reading?
message 251:
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Miriam
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May 16, 2010 06:42PM
I finished Tinkers this morning, and then got sucked back in to Andre Agassi's Open.
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Are you liking Agassi's book, Miriam? Tennis is the only professional sport I'm interested in (and I like it quite a lot). Watched a charity doubles exo with Federer/Sampras vs. Nadal/Agassi and Agassi got a little nasty. I think it should be a pretty fun read,
I am Karen. It drags a bit here and there. But overall, its interesting. I keep wanting to read a DFW review of the book though. I'm not surprised to hear that he is quite nasty on the court. He really has a hard time losing, and dislikes a majority of players he plays against. He respected Sampras, hated Becker and Chang (the reason why is funny). I think he keeps himself pretty isolated from that world (or as much as he can. It doesn't help that he declares over and over again that he hates tennis.
I'm about midway through Sebastian Junger's "War" and it's already looking like it will be on my year-end Top 10 list. I talk about it in today's blog post: http://davidabramsbooks.blogspot.com/Oh, and I'm simultaneously reading Chekhov--a combination that's likely to make my head burst.
I'm reading The Lake Shore Limited and liking it so far. Also reading for blurb a new book by Christina Meldrum which is really good!
I am making my way slowly through Making Haste from Babylon - new book about pilgrams and Plymouth. It's engaging but really all over the place - lots of cool little facts but arranged in a circuitious and overlapping way. Also, started new book The Swimming Pool which is getting lots of acclaim but is not very good - rich people with problems on the Cape. It's supposed to be current - cell phones and the like - but reads like it takes place in some not-so-distant past where women don't have jobs outside the home and divorces are taboo. Wierd.
Brian Greene "The Fabric Of The Cosmos"
The Second Annual Book Balloon Holiday Guardian Book Swap is about to commence. Wanna play? It's easy. You just have to commit to choosing a book for someone fromt the following lists: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/... http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/...
Please send me your name and mailing address and a list of titles that you have already read. I will tell you who your recipient will be, their contact information, and what not to get.
Please do not do this if you do not want to give as well as recieve.
Oh, I'd love to play again! It's a great list this year, too. I'll e you, Lauren. Thanks!
Great! I was hoping you would and that the fact that you didn't receive the books I sent until about, um, February, wouldn't dissuade you. Look over the lists and send me an email at home fufferdatcomcastdotnet. Make sure you tell me what you've already read!
I think you know the people involved - all the usual suspects.
Lauren
Oh, how fabulous to see all you usual suspects! It's been ages. I wish we could all go out for a holiday happy hour.
Those lists are divine. There are several more from them than usual that I really want. I think the lists this year are very rich all around.
Nancy! They are great lists this year -- and lots of new stuff, to me any way. Cheers to you all.
Me too Nancy. And I think the Guardian lists are particularly good this year.
Thought I'd jump in and see if there's any potential life here. Reading "The Interesings" (Meg Wolitzer). Loving it. Finished "The Two Hotel Francforts" (David Leavitt). Pretty much loved it.
REALLY want to read "A House in the Sky" and "Pilgrim's Wilderness."
Y'all?
Karen! Thanks for such a quick response! I have several new books that I'm saving to savor: Lowland (Lahiri) and Someone (McDermott) are two of them. I wish that I could read all day this winter.
I also really enjoyed the Wolitzer. And right now I'm reading the big fat The Goldfinch and finding it utterly absorbing (as much as I can be absorbed by anything this month). Nancy, that might be a good one for you.
Just finished the Wolitzer for yesterday's book club and despite a few quibbles really enjoyed. I got Galway through Someone and then left it at my sister's in Chicago. She is notoriously slow about putting things in the mail so ........ But the first half was very good!
Or me!I just finished Transatlantic and just started Longbourn (Baker).
I am the library reserve list for Longbourn and the new Donna Tartt. I thought the Interestings was the best novel of 2013 - so far. To me, she got everything right - - love, marriage, money, motherhood, envy, sex, friendship, aging. An incredible book.
Great to hear from you all! Goldfinch called to me in the bookstore, but I almost broke my arm trying to lift it. I will put it on the TBR list. I was totally taken in by A Marker to Measure Drift (Alexander Maksik). It might be my best of the year. Takes place on the Greek Islands, but it is about Liberia. Heart wrenching and beautiful in many ways.
I heard good things about that one, Nancy. I've also got Karen Joy Fowler's We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves out from the library but I don't think I'm going to finish the Tartt in time to get to it by the time it's due. Boo.
DG loved that but I have to say Fowler's work has always left me cold. Don't have the gene.
Me too Luann. Lauren it's the only Fowler I've read so I don't knowing my liking it is anomaly or not. Longbourn is good so far.
The Goldfinch is waiting for me. After I read "The Secret History" and (possibly) "The Little Friend." I'm so late to the Donna Tartt party, there are nothing but empty red cups, dirty ashtrays, and vomit stains on the carpet."We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves" is the only Fowler I've read, but I HIGHLY recommend it. It didn't leave me cold whatsoever. Quite the opposite. It was funny and, in places, quite moving.
As for me, what am I reading right now? "Pilgrim's Wilderness" by Tom Kizzia. Fascinating account of a kuh-razy patriarch (15 children!) who had a stand-off with the feds in Alaska about 10 years ago. Roads in national parks were bulldozed, shots were fired, local residents took sides, and (surprise, surprise) revelations about incest slowly made their way out of the Pilgrim Family commune. The book is un-put-downable.
Next in the queue: that big new biography of Barbara Stanwyck. Delicious!!
Come over to BookBalloon, David. Lots of talk about the Stanwyck bio in the movie thread. I have the Tartt but I'm making myself finish the two books I'm in the middle of first.
Still loving the Interestings. But am anxious to finish up because the library just coughed up Pilgrim's Wilderness: A True Story of Faith and Madness on the Alaska Frontier and Fin & Lady: A Novel just for me. And I had to restrain myself from checking out My Brilliant Friend.
I've got Fin & Lady on hold. And I just put a hold on The Luminaries—who's read it? Worthwhile?
I feel intimidated by The Luminaries. It's 848 pages, and the excerpt on Amazon is all in italics and is difficult to read (at least for me). I know it won the Man Booker. I hope someone we know reads it. Remember when only men wrote huge novels? This year we have Luminaries AND The Goldfinch, both by women and heavy as bowling balls.
Yeah, but The Goldfinch goes down easy at least. I figure what the hell, it's good for my upper body strength... literary core training or something like that.
Are you hanging in with Goldfinch, Lisa? Worth it?
Yeah, I'm enjoying it a lot. It's not all seat-of-your-pants gripping, but even the slower parts are still pretty interesting. Smooth, anyway. She can write. I'm about halfway right now, and look forward to cracking it open every time I get the chance—my attention's not wandering, which is always the sign of a good big book.
There was a rumor back when The Secret History came out that Donna Tartt was a pseudonym for a more accomplished writer. Even her public readings were few, dimly lit, and she answered no questions. Or so I've been told.
Really, Nancy? I've never heard that. Tartt has always been pretty low-key Loved TSH, bought it in hardcover when it first came out. Read TLF also which I had a little of a hard time with, in retrospect I remember it fondly.
I never heard that either. She's been promoting this one pretty consistently -- I know a couple of people who've interviewed her here in NY. Whether that means she actually wrote the stuff I suppose is anyone's guess, but I'm just happy enough to be reading it.
I didn't love The Luminaries. I was kind of confused by the plot which I thought was my fault and then when I read other reviews of it, I wasn't so sure. Parts of it are great though - there is a villainess right out of Wilkie Collins. I think it's kind of over-ambitious. Fin and Lady is so sweet and wonderful. I envy Schine for being able to create such effervesence. (am I spelling that right?)
I think DG is reading Pilgrims Wilderness too.
Goldfinch is waiting for me at the library. Of course, because now I have too many books to read in a reasonable amount of time. Ah well. It's my birthday weekend (sort of), so maybe I'll just make time to power through two books.
Lisa wrote: "I never heard that either. She's been promoting this one pretty consistently -- I know a couple of people who've interviewed her here in NY. Whether that means she actually wrote the stuff I suppos..."Karen wrote: "Really, Nancy? I've never heard that. Tartt has always been pretty low-key Loved TSH, bought it in hardcover when it first came out. Read TLF also which I had a little of a hard time with, in retro..."
Heh. Actually it was told to me by Dorothy Allison. She's quite a storyteller.
Lauren wrote: "I didn't love The Luminaries. I was kind of confused by the plot which I thought was my fault and then when I read other reviews of it, I wasn't so sure. Parts of it are great though - there is a v..."Was it all in italics? Did you read the whole thing? I'm in awe.
Miriam wrote: "Goldfinch is waiting for me at the library. Of course, because now I have too many books to read in a reasonable amount of time. Ah well. It's my birthday weekend (sort of), so maybe I'll just mak..."There are so many great books out right now. I'm tempted to fake my own death and read while everyone grieves.
Nancy wrote: "Heh. Actually it was told to me by Dorothy Allison. She's quite a storyteller."Heheh awesome. Doesn't matter if it's true or not, with a pedigree like that.
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Books mentioned in this topic
The Goldfinch (other topics)The Secret History (other topics)
The Goldfinch (other topics)
The Luminaries (other topics)
Pilgrim's Wilderness: A True Story of Faith and Madness on the Alaska Frontier (other topics)
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