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Author Topic: The What Are You Reading? Thread  (Read 317984 times)
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Emily
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« Reply #350 on: May 13, 2016, 12:02:21 PM »

No, I like different kinds of horror, I just associate "disturbing" with "gore". I said "as a horror fan" because people I asked why they don't watch horrors, they'd usually say they're scared of slasher scenes, with cutting head, half the body, taking out eyeballs, car smashing passer-by etc. Hence my post.
Here's a quick and accurate review. I haven't read it in years. I used to give copies of it to everyone.  I'm going to have to reread it now. I'm so excited.
https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/09/05/bib/990905.rv103629.html
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« Reply #351 on: May 13, 2016, 12:13:22 PM »

Thanks very much, I imagined following what I read and it's cool. I really like the cover, she reminds me of Sofia Coppola. pretty in a freakish way.
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« Reply #352 on: May 13, 2016, 12:17:39 PM »

& btw, like the fact that I indirectly made smb. to rmbr their favorite book. Who woulda thunk!
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« Reply #353 on: May 13, 2016, 12:25:03 PM »

& btw, like the fact that I indirectly made smb. to rmbr their favorite book. Who woulda thunk!
:-)
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« Reply #354 on: May 13, 2016, 01:25:28 PM »

I know of a Japanese comic/manga series called Uzumaki which I quite like. It's horror, so it could be what you're looking for, RR.
Well, you see, I'm not fan of J culture/anything (um, broadly speaking, anything Asian) but I will try to fight off my shallow views/prejudice and see if it's good.

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of manga either, but I like this one a whole lot. It has some really cool art in it, like this:


I actually have that on a t-shirt.
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« Reply #355 on: May 13, 2016, 08:45:02 PM »

My specialty is Canadian literature - but in my personal reading time I tend to be much broader in scope. Thanks for asking!

I have just started LM but I do enjoy it so far. I can see its influence on Tolstoy. I do like a lot of French lit too but I can see how Hugo doesn't quite fit comfortably with a lot of the great examples of French literature.
Ooh. I'm embarrassingly ignorant. Other than Atwood and Munro, what would you recommend as THE Canadian fiction?

Not embarrassing! There are many national literatures that I wish I had more time to know more about but unfortunately time is limited for all of us.

It is difficult to pick one text. Atwood and Munro's reputations are, in my view, justified, especially the latter. I do love Timothy Findley's Not Wanted On The Voyage and, when push comes to shove, would probably name it as my favourite book written by a Canadian author. The content, though, has very little to do with Canada unless I am missing some sort of symbolic point. Ranking close to Findley's novel would be Sheila Watson's The Double Hook, Morley Callaghan's Such Is My Beloved, and Thomas King's Green Grass Running Water. I would be proud to put those on any course syllabus. The Double Hook, especially, works as a fantastic mythopoetic construction of place in the same vein as Faulkner's construction of the American south.
I'm going to try the Findley and the Watson to start. I have read a few books each by Atwood and Monro, but seeing as Canada's right there I feel awkward knowing so little. I spent three years in Buffalo and drove to Toronto a few times. Like, for an overnight just-something-to-do-on-the-weekend thing. I mean, it's right there!
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« Reply #356 on: July 31, 2016, 02:46:39 PM »

I've been reading the wondrous posts of Hank Briarstem.
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« Reply #357 on: August 02, 2016, 10:37:21 PM »

I have immersed myself in the world of Raymond Carver. Read What People Talk About When They Talk About Love as well as Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?. Each is a collection of short stories. Wonderful stuff.
Both have been a pleasure to read. Carver often incorporates the emotional turmoil of adultery and imagery of the Pacific Northwest where he was born.

I might take up some non-fiction reading next, however, but if that doesn't work out, I can fall back on Carver's Elephant :D
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« Reply #358 on: August 04, 2016, 07:19:20 AM »

I might take up some non-fiction reading next, however, but if that doesn't work out, I can fall back on Carver's Elephant :D

As long as you don't fall under Carver's Elephant. (Sorry about that.)

I see some most interesting reads listed "across the road", even a Pynchon.

I have had reader's block for years (did I really understand that sentence? Will I remember this later?) but at one time I did a lot of reading: V , The Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow (twice), the early novels of J.P. Donleavy (all multiple times), Slaughterhouse 5, The Sotweed Factor, everything by Kafka except America, Luke Reinhardt's The Dice Man...

Now I just browse through books about music. And most relaxing it is too...       
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« Reply #359 on: August 04, 2016, 01:02:32 PM »

I might take up some non-fiction reading next, however, but if that doesn't work out, I can fall back on Carver's Elephant :D

As long as you don't fall under Carver's Elephant. (Sorry about that.)
Eh, you got a chuckle out of me Tongue.
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« Reply #360 on: August 04, 2016, 02:26:53 PM »

I've been reading a lot of graphic novels recently:

Adrian Tomine  - Killing and Dying
Chester Brown - Biography of Louis Riel
Gilberto Hernandez - Love and Rockets (vol.1)
Jeff Smith - entire Bone series
Paolo Parisi - Coltrane
Alan Moore - From Hell

All of these are brilliant.

I would HIGHLY recommend Adrian Tomine's Killing & Dying for anyone who wants to read literate graphic novels. His storytelling is on a par with Raymond Carver.
https://www.drawnandquarterly.com/killing-and-dying

and Jeff Smith's Bone series is up there with all literature.

For anyone who wants to get into graphic novels, Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics is a great place to start!
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« Reply #361 on: August 07, 2016, 12:42:48 AM »

Herbert Wells "The Time Machine". Lilian Jackson Braun "The Cat Who Tailed a Thief". Masters of detective (Hadley Chase etc).
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« Reply #362 on: August 07, 2016, 04:14:53 AM »

I'm currently reading "Terry Jones' Medieval Lives" which is the BBC book following the series.
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« Reply #363 on: August 20, 2016, 05:32:10 PM »

Read - So Close to Home: A True Story of an American Family's Fight for Survival During World War II, by Tougias and O'Leary.
This book concerns a family (parents, two children) onboard a banana freighter headed back to the US from South America in May 1942. Just off the coast of Louisiana south of New Orleans the ship was torpedoed by a UBoat.
Found the book very compelling reading, showing the family's plight after the attack. The book also gives info about the UBoat commanders, and the bizarre "war etiquette" they used.

Am presently reading two books, Hemingways A Moveable Feast about his time in Paris in the 1920s - fascinating, although no one comes off well so far - maybe there was a nice cat or dog mentioned lol.
The other book is Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance. Vance, a "hillbilly", is describing the culture found in parts of America, lower income White people who can't seem to get ahead, and why. I'm a third of the way through the book. Haven't made up my mind how I feel about it yet.
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« Reply #364 on: August 21, 2016, 11:43:12 AM »

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
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« Reply #365 on: September 06, 2016, 08:15:18 AM »

Reading Perry Mason books - "The Case of the Moth-Eaten Mink" & "The Case of the Nervous Accomplice". I've got them in library as giveaway. Every day the library personnel leaves the books in the hall's windowsill for anybody to take home. People pick the books they like; by the end of day, it's empty. Then tomorrow, the other bunch is brought out. Isn't it fantastic? 3D Btw, it isn't just old irrelevant books like "Windows '98", about communists. There's new stuff too, ca. 2012 etc.
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« Reply #366 on: September 06, 2016, 08:42:51 AM »

when I was working at the local dental school, outside of the library was a bookshelf with books of all types. People could take one, donate one, etc.
Our local libraries have these as well. The books are either free, or for next to nothing in cost.
They're good places to get mysteries, 'who done it' books etc. also cookbooks.

P.S. For 3 years we had in my department a resident whose last name was Jardine. He was from the central US. Never got the nerve to ask him if he was related in any way to Al...
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"(Brian) got into this really touching music with songs like 'In My Room', and 'Good Vibrations' was amazing. The melodies are so beautiful, almost perfect. I began to realize he was one of the most gifted writers of our generation." - Paul Simon

 "The best thing you can be 'like' in music is yourself." Dr. John
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« Reply #367 on: September 06, 2016, 03:38:44 PM »

Here, we've got bigger choice than you. It isn't just "place to get mysteries". There is classic literature too - Shakespeare, Chaucer, Wordsworth, Whitman, Hemingway etc. It's a good chance for people to build their house library. I like the idea.
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« Reply #368 on: September 06, 2016, 05:14:58 PM »

That's great that the library offers those books.
Unfortunately I don't think most Americans are into "heavy" reading. We're losing the patience to read things where we actually have to think, to take our time with difficult concepts. A lot of us want to know from someone else (a politician, or the media) what opinions to have. Sad.

Off my "soapbox" now.

Am presently reading John Fogerty's Fortunate Son. Good book, but a downer. Wish I had decided to read it at a different time, as he's starting to relate problems with band members. I'll be reading more about stuff like that when another book comes out next week, written by someone who's discussed a great deal on this board.   Smiley
The other book I'm reading has the provocative title The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer, on their quest to save precious manuscripts from many hundreds of years ago, which are in danger of being destroyed by Al Qaeda. Fascinating so far.
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"(Brian) got into this really touching music with songs like 'In My Room', and 'Good Vibrations' was amazing. The melodies are so beautiful, almost perfect. I began to realize he was one of the most gifted writers of our generation." - Paul Simon

 "The best thing you can be 'like' in music is yourself." Dr. John
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« Reply #369 on: September 12, 2016, 04:42:48 PM »

The oracle glass by judith merkle
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« Reply #370 on: September 12, 2016, 05:45:22 PM »

The Final Days - Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
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« Reply #371 on: September 15, 2016, 12:36:16 PM »

1997 jeep cherokee xj factory service manual figuring out the best way to change heater core.. Without completely removing dash
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« Reply #372 on: September 23, 2016, 05:48:08 AM »

"Murder on the Orient Express" - rare case when the book beats various adaptations. I watched some, didn't like. When reading the book, I pictured the characters differently (duh). It was perfect cast. I could be good casting director. 3D Bottom line: this is classic for reason.
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« Reply #373 on: September 28, 2016, 11:48:32 PM »

I've read more than my share of modern German history, but this book review is fascinating:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/books/hitler-ascent-volker-ullrich.html
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« Reply #374 on: September 29, 2016, 07:08:01 AM »

Thank you, Emily, for this.
I will add this to my reading list. Have read numerous books about Hitler, and Germany, during that turbulent time period. Maybe one day I will fully understand exactly how his rise to power was able to happen, and especially why the German people were so willing to go along with his (stuff).
As someone with 3/4 German ancestry, I am repulsed by him, but have an obsession to watch or read anything about him that becomes available.
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"No White Flags." - Team Gleason

"(Brian) got into this really touching music with songs like 'In My Room', and 'Good Vibrations' was amazing. The melodies are so beautiful, almost perfect. I began to realize he was one of the most gifted writers of our generation." - Paul Simon

 "The best thing you can be 'like' in music is yourself." Dr. John
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