The What Are You Reading? Thread

[the captain]

I'm behind on books.  ...  has been sitting on my shelf for about 4-5 years. 

Glad I'm not the only one with that problem. The booty from my past couple of trips to the bookstore are still sitting in stacks on a table, on a shelf. I mean to read them all immediately ... I just don't.

[KDS]

I'm behind on books.  ...  has been sitting on my shelf for about 4-5 years.  

Glad I'm not the only one with that problem. The booty from my past couple of trips to the bookstore are still sitting in stacks on a table, on a shelf. I mean to read them all immediately ... I just don't.

Everytime I get close to being caught up, I wind up getting more books.  

[Emily]

I'm behind on books.  ...  has been sitting on my shelf for about 4-5 years. 

Glad I'm not the only one with that problem. The booty from my past couple of trips to the bookstore are still sitting in stacks on a table, on a shelf. I mean to read them all immediately ... I just don't.

You have bookstores too? What magical planet do you all live on? Where I live it's only Barnes and Noble with the same limited best seller-pop books and read-them-already classics. I used to spend hours daily browsing bookstores, but they're all gone! The only place I've been lately with decent bookshops is New Orleans.
Even Cambridge is lacking.

[KDS]

I'm behind on books.  ...  has been sitting on my shelf for about 4-5 years. 

Glad I'm not the only one with that problem. The booty from my past couple of trips to the bookstore are still sitting in stacks on a table, on a shelf. I mean to read them all immediately ... I just don't.

You have bookstores too? What magical planet do you all live on? Where I live it's only Barnes and Noble with the same limited best seller-pop books and read-them-already classics. I used to spend hours daily browsing bookstores, but they're all gone! The only place I've been lately with decent bookshops is New Orleans.
Even Cambridge is lacking.

Here in the Baltimore area, we have a nice used bookshop called Ukazoo.  We also have a big bookstore called Greetings and Readings which sells books as well as gifts, apparel, and greeting cards. 

[Emily]

I'm behind on books.  ...  has been sitting on my shelf for about 4-5 years. 

Glad I'm not the only one with that problem. The booty from my past couple of trips to the bookstore are still sitting in stacks on a table, on a shelf. I mean to read them all immediately ... I just don't.

You have bookstores too? What magical planet do you all live on? Where I live it's only Barnes and Noble with the same limited best seller-pop books and read-them-already classics. I used to spend hours daily browsing bookstores, but they're all gone! The only place I've been lately with decent bookshops is New Orleans.
Even Cambridge is lacking.

Here in the Baltimore area, we have a nice used bookshop called Ukazoo.  We also have a big bookstore called Greetings and Readings which sells books as well as gifts, apparel, and greeting cards. 

Soooo jealous. Browsing online is just not the same.

[KDS]

I'm behind on books.  ...  has been sitting on my shelf for about 4-5 years. 

Glad I'm not the only one with that problem. The booty from my past couple of trips to the bookstore are still sitting in stacks on a table, on a shelf. I mean to read them all immediately ... I just don't.

You have bookstores too? What magical planet do you all live on? Where I live it's only Barnes and Noble with the same limited best seller-pop books and read-them-already classics. I used to spend hours daily browsing bookstores, but they're all gone! The only place I've been lately with decent bookshops is New Orleans.
Even Cambridge is lacking.

Here in the Baltimore area, we have a nice used bookshop called Ukazoo.  We also have a big bookstore called Greetings and Readings which sells books as well as gifts, apparel, and greeting cards. 

Soooo jealous. Browsing online is just not the same.

Very true.  I feel the same way about CDs.  We still have some for real record stores here. 

Although I will admit, when I do browse for books at a bookshop or record store, it's usually to get ideas for my Amazon Wish List. 

[the captain]

This weekend, I started reading "Stoner," by John Williams. I had come across an article discussing it as a somewhat neglected classic that is having a resurgence. I'm enjoying it so far. Always nice to have a pleasant surprise come out of nowhere.

Just finished this. Loved it. Highly recommended as a beautiful, easily digestible novel.

[RangeRoverA1]

Notified of the free e-book download by NoiseTrade - "Surviving Christmas" by Anne Marie Miller. We'll see. Not bad, a bit too religious but the girl is cool in my book.

[RangeRoverA1]

I get lots of notifications from NoiseTrade. I can't catch up with downloading free e-Books (though there is an option to submit $1 or 2. No thanks. ). Help! 

[Smilin Ed H]

After binging on Chandler over the last few months (and especially enjoying The Long Goodbye, which seems to have some Brian Wilson resoance), I'm re-reading some Ross Macdonald, starting with The Underground Man: http://fridaynightboys300.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/ross-mcdonald-underground-man.html

[the captain]

Calling for recommendations. I'm in a drought at the moment. I started reading Upton Sinclair's "The Millenium" and Gunter Grass's "The Tin Drum," and haven't advanced beyond the first couple dozen pages of either. At least at the moment, neither is keeping my attention or interest.

So, anyone have any tips for a good novel or two? My favorite writers are Knut Hamsun, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Ford, Albert Camus. I've enjoyed Jhumpa Lahiri, Philip Roth, FS Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Vlad Nabokov, Leo Tolstoy, Raymond Carver, Saul Bellow, Stephen Dixon, JP Sartre, John Cheever, Arthur Phillips, JM Coetzee.

Anybody got any ideas?

[Smilin Ed H]

Try Glen David Gold's Sunnyside.

[the captain]

Thanks for the tip. I sold a dozen or so books and, while there, looked around for your suggestion, but it wasn't in stock. I'll keep an eye out, though.

I picked up I.B. Singer's "In My Father's Court," (while I had the second volume, I never had this one), Oleg Pavlov's "The Matiushin Case," and Sarah Hall's "The Beautiful Indifference."

[RangeRoverA1]

James Hadley Chase - Strictly for Cash. Didn't finish the reading but it's interesting & adventurous.

[JK]

Still reading this (I'm a slow reader). I hope to finish it soon.   

[RangeRoverA1]

Clotilde Landais "Stephen King As A Postmodern Author" (2012). I'm at page 60 & I like it. Interesting theories wrt "fictitious writer and doppelganger" during discussion of "The Dark Half" & "Secret Window, Secret Garden". I didn't read the books but watched the films. This is must-read for Stephen King fans.

[halblaineisgood]

Eternal Troubadour: The Improbable Life Of Tiny Tim

[Smilin Ed H]

http://fridaynightboys300.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/michael-chabon-telegraph-avenue.html

This, after owning it for four years. Sometimes life gets in the way.

[RangeRoverA1]

Alfred Hitchcock "Collection of short stories" (in Russian)
Agatha Christie "Miss Marple" (my favorite detective )

[Smilin Ed H]

Apparently, he wasn't so tiny... 

[RangeRoverA1]

Robert Lawrence Stine "Scarecrow walks at midnight". My favorite re-read in his "Goosebumps" series.

[Smilin Ed H]

Who cares about height?

[RangeRoverA1]

Duck Tales comics.

[Emily]

Calling for recommendations. I'm in a drought at the moment. I started reading Upton Sinclair's "The Millenium" and Gunter Grass's "The Tin Drum," and haven't advanced beyond the first couple dozen pages of either. At least at the moment, neither is keeping my attention or interest.

So, anyone have any tips for a good novel or two? My favorite writers are Knut Hamsun, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Ford, Albert Camus. I've enjoyed Jhumpa Lahiri, Philip Roth, FS Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Vlad Nabokov, Leo Tolstoy, Raymond Carver, Saul Bellow, Stephen Dixon, JP Sartre, John Cheever, Arthur Phillips, JM Coetzee.

Anybody got any ideas?

Based on your Russian lit. enjoyment, I'd recommend Nikolai Gogol.
Based on the international aspect of your list, I'd recommend Kawabata for a start with Japanese literature or Naguib Mahfouz for Egyptian.
If you want further South African reading, you could try Nadine Gordimer or, if you like reading plays, Athol Fugard.
If you like literary criticism, Axels Castle by Edmund Wilson contains a great discussion of the movement that produced Fitzgerald and Hemingway and will lead you to several other interesting writers.
Based on your list I think you may enjoy Emile Zola or Guy de Maupassant.
My favorite Roth novels are the Zuckerman books. My favorite Nabokov is Pnin.

[1-1-wonderful]

The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov if not already mentioned.