Books on the Nightstand discussion
What are you currently reading - October 2010
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Trish wrote: "Paul wrote: "I'm currently reading Nam Le's first offering, "The Boat" - a collection of short stories. If the rest of the stories are as poetic and thought-provoking as the first, I'm in for a re..."I still haven't finished, but I think the first story was one of the most beautifully written stories I have ever read . . . and the second wasn't too far behind. I'm having the same sort of positive reaction that I had while reading Junot Diaz' "Drown". As to how I found it, I was sure that it had been mentioned on BOTNS. But checking the new book inventory, it wasn't listed. So it was perhaps a review in EW or the Boston Globe.
I am listening to The Great House by Nicole Kraus, which is excellent! I am reading A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse, an Europa Editions book.
I also just started the newest in Mccall-Smith's Isabel Dalhousie mysteries titled The Charming Quirks Of Others.
I am struggling through The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements. I keep grabbing other books to read instead... I'm thinking I may be putting this one aside and moving on...
Almost half-way through The Poisonwood Bible (Kingsolver). Wishing I could have picked it up sooner so I could have joined in Ann's discussion. Anywho, I am completely enthralled.
Mod
Sex, Bombs and Burgers: How War, Porn and Fast Food Shaped Technology as We Know It
It is a great book about how technology has been affected by these industries. The Porn Industry is a leader in the creation and/or implementation of technology from the internet to virtual reality. The author references how military technology and porn intersected with the Paris Hilton sex tape (night vision).
The book hasn't been released in the U.S. yet, but is available in Canada and some U.S. libraries.
It is a great book about how technology has been affected by these industries. The Porn Industry is a leader in the creation and/or implementation of technology from the internet to virtual reality. The author references how military technology and porn intersected with the Paris Hilton sex tape (night vision).
The book hasn't been released in the U.S. yet, but is available in Canada and some U.S. libraries.
Mod
I'm shocked, too, that I didn't mention The Boat, even on the short story episode. In fact, I remember giving Nam Le our BOTNS business card because we had talked about his book. I've got to go see if I did indeed omit the book. I've been thinking that it might be time for another short story show, so maybe I'll rectify The Boat's omission.
Mod
Which brings up the question of why you couldn't find it. Do you remember how you searched? Because of the robust search engine on the index, we are using articles as the author intended, so if you searched "The Boat" it should have come up. If you searched "Boat, The", however, it wouldn't. I just used "boat." But I'm wondering if it was something else that didn't work.
Hi - I've just finished reading The Secret History by Donna Tartt - What I found really interesting about this book was that I felt transported to a different time. The students who we follow in the book at Hampden College are all classics students reading Greek and they almost inhabit another time another world, and Donna Tartt weaves this in through her book so you feel their world is a completely different one to the present day. It's a shocking book actually and I think what makes it more shocking is that the events are normalised within the group of friends and the events which take place seem so easy - with quite devastating repercussions as the book concludes! -- Id definitely recommend this book and in a way, as we're coming up to Halloween and scary sinister books - I would definitely rate this as quite a sinister Halloween book! - Hope you enjoy it if you decide to give it a go x
Mod
I finished Incarceron which I loved. It is YA but I would recommend it for adults who like genre fiction.The characters are fully developed and believable while the storyline is tightly plotted with an exciting, satisfying ending even though it leaves room for the sequel.
Now I have started The Marriage Artist which is out in November. There is a little too much naval gazing for my taste but the writing style is excellent and it seems to be moving forward quite quickly.
Mod
I am reading print The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s BagThe Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag. The plot is a little tighter than the first book, which I like, but there haven't been any of the fun turns of phrases that I adored in the first book. In short, I'm enjoying the second book as much as the first book except for different reasons.I am listening to The Man from BeijingThe Man from Beijing. I love the Wallander mysteries and didn't think I'd like a stand alone book but I LOVE it!! The book has gotten mixed reviews on GoodReads but I am enjoying it immensely.
Ann wrote: "Paul wrote: "As to how I found it, I was sure that it had been mentioned on BOTNS. But checking the new book inventory, it wasn't listed"I'm shocked, too, that I didn't mention The Boat, even on ..."
Yikes! I searched using the index and I didn't find anything. But today . . . all the references popped up. Probably should practice my typing skills! Sorry.
I've gotten through the first two volumes of The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1 (which collects the first 8 volumes of the series in one 1000+ page book). I'm really, really enjoying it. I've definitely gasped and exclaimed out loud a couple times while reading it--Kirkman definitely knows how to surprise the reader and build the suspense. I hope to finish it before the premiere of the AMC series a week from today. I'm also trying to decide between The Little Stranger and East of Eden for my next book off my TBR pile... they're nothing alike and yet I can't make up my mind about which one I'm in the mood for. :)
Paul wrote: "Yikes! I searched using the index and I didn't find anything. But today . . . all the references popped up. Probably should practice my typing skills! Sorry. "
I first saw The Boat (by Nam Le) when I was in NYC last Christmas. I was playing #undercoverspy on twitter (you discreetly check out what other people are reading and report back.) Ever since, I've been seeing it mentioned a lot; but curiously, I haven't seen any more people reading it! I loved your description of the first story ("poetic and thought-provoking.") I'm definitely going top have to put it on my wish list!
I first saw The Boat (by Nam Le) when I was in NYC last Christmas. I was playing #undercoverspy on twitter (you discreetly check out what other people are reading and report back.) Ever since, I've been seeing it mentioned a lot; but curiously, I haven't seen any more people reading it! I loved your description of the first story ("poetic and thought-provoking.") I'm definitely going top have to put it on my wish list!
I'm half way thru The Witches of Eastwick which I'm really enjoying. I'm looking forward to the next one already, The Widows of Eastwick.I'm also just getting started on The Witchery. Its starts out telling you how the story ends so that kinda ruins it.
Anna wrote:Hi - I've just finished reading The Secret History by Donna TarttAnna, that is one of my all-time favorite books. I've been a little nervous about reading her subsequent work The Little Friend as it got so-so reviews.
Loretta I'm really curious about that graphic novel (and I definitely am watching the AMC series) but holy cow-1000 pages? Admittedly, it's not like 1000 pages of straight text but still.
I just finished Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway which is Cherie Currie's memoir. She was the lead singer of The Runaways and the memoir was the basis for the movie that came out this year. I loved the Runways (the band that also launched the careers of Joan Jett and Lita Ford when they were still teens) and have been a fan of Cherie Currie since I saw her in Foxes. The prose was a little lackluster at times even with a co-writer but I enjoyed her stories and she certainly has survived a lot. I'm working my way through a list of certain reading goals for the year. One of the things on my list was to finally read Kurt Vonnegut so I just started Cat's Cradle.
@ Vanessa: The graphic novels were originally printed (well, after their initial comic run...) in volumes that tended to be about 130-140 pages. So if you just want to get a flavor for The Walking Dead, you could start with The Walking Dead Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye. But, since I'm partial to graphic novels anyway, and I'd been given very strong recommendations for The Walking Dead in the past (long before Michael recommended it so strongly in Podcast 99), I just went ahead and bought the compendium since I knew I'd want to read all of it, and this saved me money in the long term.
And besides, some pages are just pictures of zombies getting their heads blown off. ;-)
Also, I LOVE Vonnegut. Cat's Cradle is one of my all time faves. I hope you love it. :)
Keep in mind that if you want more of a Walking Dead fix, they are first published as individual monthly comic books, and the series is up to #78.
Volume 9 reprints issues 49-54, so if you've only read the paperbacks, much of the existing series is yet ahead of you.
Volume 9 reprints issues 49-54, so if you've only read the paperbacks, much of the existing series is yet ahead of you.
Finishing The Corrections. I am enjoying Franzen's characterizations, and the family dynamics are interesting, but I find his prose style ugly. I cannot understand the reviews I've read of his work that describe his writing as poetic or beautiful. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I started two lighter books, The Once and Future King, and A Monstrous Regiment of Women. Cloud Atlas is on deck.
Melissa wrote: "Finishing The Corrections. I am enjoying Franzen's characterizations, and the family dynamics are interesting, but I find his prose style ugly...."Quite right, I think, that his prose style is vernacular, to put it mildly. But that may be why his work is so accessible. There is nothing in the way to our immediate understanding of what he is saying. I think he himself has often said that he does not intend to write literature so much as to draw a mirror in which we can see ourselves.
Alexia wrote: "I am listening to The Man from BeijingThe Man from Beijing. I love the Wallander mysteries and didn't think I'd like a stand alone book but I LOVE it!! The book has gotten mixed reviews on GoodReads but I am enjoying it immensely..."Glad you're loving it. Mankell is very good indeed, but this particular title did not ring my bell. What about the horrible violence? That didn't put you off?
I am readng two things: One is To Fetch a Thief by Spencer Quinn. Call me lowbrow, but I love his books. This dog is too real for words. The other one I am reading is How to Read the Air, by Dinaw Mengestu. It is more literary, and therefore more highbrow, but it a lower specific gravity and requires a calm, quiet heart.
Trish, how lowbrow!! :)I read Dog on It earlier this year which is the first book in the series. It's not the kind of book I would typically pick but my library books were in transit limbo. It actually charmed the pants off of me. Quinn is a smart writer, even with a canine narrator. And Chet is too adorable. It felt like reading my dog's interior monologue. There is a parrot in the book that Chet considers his nemesis and some of the scenes where he talks about how evil "Captain Crunch" is made me laugh. I used to have a bird and I'm sure my dog felt the same way.
Mod
I am reading Lady Audley's Secret. One of the first British Manor mysteries written in the 1800's. It took a while to get to the mystery, but I really like it. Never heard of it until I passed a table at the library and its cover caught my attention long enough to read the back.
Trish wrote: "Alexia wrote: "I am listening to The Man from BeijingThe Man from Beijing. I love the Wallander mysteries and didn't think I'd like a stand alone book but I LOVE it!! The book has gotten mixed revi..."After reading so much Stieg Larsson and Mankell's other books I guess the violence doesn't surprise me. I'm also a big fan of the TV show "Criminal Minds", so nothing surprises me anymore in terms of violence. I am beginning to wonder about the psychy of Swedish mystery authors! LOL.
Just finished The Witches of Eastwick and must say that I loved this one. I'm now just getting started on The Witchery
Finished Freedom
I found this one to be a lot sloppier in storytelling than The Corrections, but still engaging.
Set in the backdrop of 9/11 and the ramp-up to the war in Iraq, this book concerns the Berglands, a dysfunctional family. Walter, the father, is an environmental lawyer. Patty, his wife, is an ex-jock searching for meaning and direction. Joey, their son, rebels by entering the conservative camp and becomes embroiled in a money making scheme to sell useless truck parts to the U.S. military. The estrangements and reconciliations are all intertwined with the issues of the day.
I could especially identify with the friendship between the reliable Walter and the hedonist musician, Richard Katz. Richard admires Walter for his integrity and envies him his wife. Walter craves Richard's freedom. I'm a Walter, and have a friend who's a Richard. There's a type of toxic relationship between male friends that occurs when the "Richard" is unable to abandon the competitive paradigm of youth, and continues to sabotage the "Walter's" success. When men are young and immature, such sabotage moves usually involve women, and there's a name for it: "c*ck block". When these types of moves are made by adults, it could involve anything in the realm of envied success, and it's just pathetic. At the same time, the "Walter" has matured, is fully looking out for his friend's best interest, and helps him in his every endeavor. But, as is always the case, no good deed goes unpunished, and when "Richard's" unforgivable betrayal comes, it comes hard.
This book captures that type of relationship perfectly.
I found this one to be a lot sloppier in storytelling than The Corrections, but still engaging.
Set in the backdrop of 9/11 and the ramp-up to the war in Iraq, this book concerns the Berglands, a dysfunctional family. Walter, the father, is an environmental lawyer. Patty, his wife, is an ex-jock searching for meaning and direction. Joey, their son, rebels by entering the conservative camp and becomes embroiled in a money making scheme to sell useless truck parts to the U.S. military. The estrangements and reconciliations are all intertwined with the issues of the day.
I could especially identify with the friendship between the reliable Walter and the hedonist musician, Richard Katz. Richard admires Walter for his integrity and envies him his wife. Walter craves Richard's freedom. I'm a Walter, and have a friend who's a Richard. There's a type of toxic relationship between male friends that occurs when the "Richard" is unable to abandon the competitive paradigm of youth, and continues to sabotage the "Walter's" success. When men are young and immature, such sabotage moves usually involve women, and there's a name for it: "c*ck block". When these types of moves are made by adults, it could involve anything in the realm of envied success, and it's just pathetic. At the same time, the "Walter" has matured, is fully looking out for his friend's best interest, and helps him in his every endeavor. But, as is always the case, no good deed goes unpunished, and when "Richard's" unforgivable betrayal comes, it comes hard.
This book captures that type of relationship perfectly.
Eric wrote: "Finished FreedomI found this one to be a lot sloppier in storytelling than The Corrections, but still engaging.
Set in the backdrop of 9/11 and the ramp-up to the war in Iraq, thi..."
Interesting. I just finished The Corrections. I purchased it when it first came out in paperback years ago, but I couldn't read it. The book describes the decline into dementia of the father, Alfred. At that time, I was coping with my mother's recent death and my own father's decline and struggles with dementia.
I thought the book captured the family relationships well, especially the denial among family members that something bad and irreversible is happening to someone you love. I thought The Corrections was sloppy in its construction, and as I mentioned before, I do not care for Franzen's prose style. I don't find it accessible, just clunky.
I might try Freedom when it comes out in paperback.
Eric wrote: "I could especially identify with the friendship between the reliable Walter and the hedonist musician, Richard Katz. Richard admires Walter for his integrity and envies him his wife. Walter craves Richard's freedom...."The Richard character did it for me, too. He rang particularly true, and recognizable. I suspect a lot of Franzen is that character. When marvelling at that character construction, one begins to see the scope of what Franzen managed to do. It may be clunky, and the seams visible, the language vernacular, but my...it is huge, and truthful, and humorous, and an interesting way to spend some time. At least we know what he thinks.
I just finished The Outfit by Darwyn Cooke.
Darwyn Cooke is an auteur comics creator. Therefore, one shouldn't expect his adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's Parker novels to be slavish beat-by-beat reiterations. No, Cooke makes these adaptations his own.
In this one, he includes the second Parker book, The Man With the Getaway Face, as a prologue to The Outfit, and it works. Cooke introduces an actor/thief who doesn't appear in the novels, and who serves as Parker's disguise guru. He cuts the scene where Parker travels south to get a truck. He merges the (in the book) murdered "Getaway" compatriot with the guy who fingers him at "Outfit's" inception. These narrative choices tie certain elements of the two stories together and make a one-volume adaptation make perfect sense.
I especially like how he handles the four sequences where professional thieves hit mob targets. He varies the art and narration style for each one, and diagrams how both the mob operations and the heists work, in a way that's educational, entertaining, and just plain fun.
Cooke is a master, but he keeps getting better with every outing.
Darwyn Cooke is an auteur comics creator. Therefore, one shouldn't expect his adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's Parker novels to be slavish beat-by-beat reiterations. No, Cooke makes these adaptations his own.
In this one, he includes the second Parker book, The Man With the Getaway Face, as a prologue to The Outfit, and it works. Cooke introduces an actor/thief who doesn't appear in the novels, and who serves as Parker's disguise guru. He cuts the scene where Parker travels south to get a truck. He merges the (in the book) murdered "Getaway" compatriot with the guy who fingers him at "Outfit's" inception. These narrative choices tie certain elements of the two stories together and make a one-volume adaptation make perfect sense.
I especially like how he handles the four sequences where professional thieves hit mob targets. He varies the art and narration style for each one, and diagrams how both the mob operations and the heists work, in a way that's educational, entertaining, and just plain fun.
Cooke is a master, but he keeps getting better with every outing.
Eric wrote: "I just finished The Outfit by Darwyn Cooke.Darwyn Cooke is an auteur comics creator. Therefore, one shouldn't expect his adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's..."
Eric, do you feel that reading the original work was necessary in order to appreciate the graphic novel?
No. But it just so happens that I been intermittently reading through the Parker series during the past year, and had read this graphic novel with those books relatively fresh in my memory. And I'm glad, because I was able to see the artistic license Cooke was taking.
I neglected to mention the Cooke had left out from "Getaway" the whole subplot if the oafish thug that pursued Parker from the plastic surgery clinic.
I neglected to mention the Cooke had left out from "Getaway" the whole subplot if the oafish thug that pursued Parker from the plastic surgery clinic.
Just read Superman: Earth One by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis
*Yawn* Here's yet another "re-imagining" of an established superhero. You know what I mean. DC (or Marvel) fears that their heroes are too continuity-laden for new readers to want to pick up on, and so decide to give them a restart while jettisoning decades of baggage. In theory, this can be a good thing. Marvel has done a great job with its Ultimate line, which uses this approach, especially with Ultimate Spider-Man and The Ultimates (read Avengers). The Marvel Ultimate line takes place in its own pocket of reality, or "universe", while the traditional, ongoing continuity of Marvel heroes goes on unchanged. You could follow either one or both. It worked to re-start Spider-Man because he had always worked best as a nerdy high school student, and Ultimate Spider-Man took him back to that milieu; back to basics. The Ultimates worked for the opposite reason. Instead of going back to basics it gave us a much more gung-ho, dysfunctional, unrelatable version of The Avengers than we were used to. Ultimates presented a group of super-jackholes that, while we may not have liked them, could face up to the meanest, toughest threats and get the job done.
DC, unlike Marvel, has a long history of continuity reboots, beginning in 1985 with the limited series Crisis on Infinite Earth, which rewrote the history of the entire ongoing DC Universe, which, in the case of Superman and Wonder Woman, erased all of what had gone before. John Byrne and George Perez were put in charge, respectively, of rebuilding them from scratch. These new mid-eighties interpretations weren't just alternate takes that left the existing versions intact. The new versions were now the only versions available. DC rewrote its continuity yet again in the mid-nineties with the Zero Hour series, and rebooted Superman's origin yet again in the mid-oughts with a series written by Mark Waid, then again in 2010 with a series written by Geoff Johns. All this shouldn't make us forget the various movie and TV versions or Superman, each of which presents alternate character history and lore. The TV series Smallville comes to mind as the best re-imagining of Superman to date.
Earth One doesn't work for me, for three reasons:
1) Rebooting Superman has been done to death a bajillion times, as I've previously explained;
2) The overall mood of this graphic novel is somber and world-weary. It's a far cry from the bright, gleaming world of Metropolis, which contrasts with Batman's Gotham. Young Clark seems depressed before he even begins his Super-career. Superman just isn't cut out to be a depressing character. I mean, if he was, he's be wearing earth tones rather than the familiar bright red and blue.
3) It's not different enough. Same exploded Krypton, same Jor-El and Lara, same Ma and Pa Kent and Smallville, same Daily Planet, same Perry, Lois and Jimmy, same costume, same dumb pair of glasses as disguise. I mean, if you're going to re-imagine, re-imagine!
The only original part of the story is the explanation of Krypton's destruction and the villain who tracks Clark across the universe to finish off his breed. There is a mystery figure in the destruction of Krypton, whose identity will no doubt be revealed in subsequent installments. Dollars to donuts it's Brainiac, and you can quote me.
Blah.
*Yawn* Here's yet another "re-imagining" of an established superhero. You know what I mean. DC (or Marvel) fears that their heroes are too continuity-laden for new readers to want to pick up on, and so decide to give them a restart while jettisoning decades of baggage. In theory, this can be a good thing. Marvel has done a great job with its Ultimate line, which uses this approach, especially with Ultimate Spider-Man and The Ultimates (read Avengers). The Marvel Ultimate line takes place in its own pocket of reality, or "universe", while the traditional, ongoing continuity of Marvel heroes goes on unchanged. You could follow either one or both. It worked to re-start Spider-Man because he had always worked best as a nerdy high school student, and Ultimate Spider-Man took him back to that milieu; back to basics. The Ultimates worked for the opposite reason. Instead of going back to basics it gave us a much more gung-ho, dysfunctional, unrelatable version of The Avengers than we were used to. Ultimates presented a group of super-jackholes that, while we may not have liked them, could face up to the meanest, toughest threats and get the job done.
DC, unlike Marvel, has a long history of continuity reboots, beginning in 1985 with the limited series Crisis on Infinite Earth, which rewrote the history of the entire ongoing DC Universe, which, in the case of Superman and Wonder Woman, erased all of what had gone before. John Byrne and George Perez were put in charge, respectively, of rebuilding them from scratch. These new mid-eighties interpretations weren't just alternate takes that left the existing versions intact. The new versions were now the only versions available. DC rewrote its continuity yet again in the mid-nineties with the Zero Hour series, and rebooted Superman's origin yet again in the mid-oughts with a series written by Mark Waid, then again in 2010 with a series written by Geoff Johns. All this shouldn't make us forget the various movie and TV versions or Superman, each of which presents alternate character history and lore. The TV series Smallville comes to mind as the best re-imagining of Superman to date.
Earth One doesn't work for me, for three reasons:
1) Rebooting Superman has been done to death a bajillion times, as I've previously explained;
2) The overall mood of this graphic novel is somber and world-weary. It's a far cry from the bright, gleaming world of Metropolis, which contrasts with Batman's Gotham. Young Clark seems depressed before he even begins his Super-career. Superman just isn't cut out to be a depressing character. I mean, if he was, he's be wearing earth tones rather than the familiar bright red and blue.
3) It's not different enough. Same exploded Krypton, same Jor-El and Lara, same Ma and Pa Kent and Smallville, same Daily Planet, same Perry, Lois and Jimmy, same costume, same dumb pair of glasses as disguise. I mean, if you're going to re-imagine, re-imagine!
The only original part of the story is the explanation of Krypton's destruction and the villain who tracks Clark across the universe to finish off his breed. There is a mystery figure in the destruction of Krypton, whose identity will no doubt be revealed in subsequent installments. Dollars to donuts it's Brainiac, and you can quote me.
Blah.
Am reading an OUTSTANDING book by a (former?) L.A. Times journalist called Every Man in this Village is a Liar. Poetic, descriptive, very like the letter of a friend who got off a train in an unforgiving environment and is sending news.
I just finished 2 books this week... And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie and Jurassic Park by Michael Chrichton. I had read both of these many many years ago (I was assigned ATTWN in 6th grade Reading, and JP was my first 'adult' chapter book when I was about 9 or 10), and they were perfect lead ins for Halloween.ATTWN is about a group of people who are invited under mysterious means to a remote island for different reasons (some think it's for a job, some for vacation, etc), and subsequently come to find out that things are not what they seem. This is a great story with a very great ending.
I'm sure pretty much everyone knows the storyline of JP, but I will say that while some parts of the book are the same as the movie, and the general idea is there, the specifics are quite different. If you've never read it or haven't read it in a long time, I definitely recommend giving it another go. Since I haven't read his stuff in quite awhile, I tend to forget what an entertaining storyteller Chrichton was.
And since I grabbed both of these rather than read more of The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements, I think it's safe to say I'm putting it down for good. Next up will be Room, by Emma Donoghue.
Books on the Nightstand
Books mentioned in this topic
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements (other topics)And Then There Were None (other topics)
Jurassic Park (other topics)
Superman: Earth One (other topics)
Freedom (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
John Connolly (other topics)Suzanne Collins (other topics)
Chris Bohjalian (other topics)
Emma Donoghue (other topics)
Will Christopher Baer (other topics)
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Wondering how you found Nam Le's collection? I LOVED it--think it augers well for the future of literature.