Winter Reading Thread

[wlu_lax6]

Double shot of South Florida Zanny from the library

Have about 10 pages left in this


and then onto

[A_B]

Got Lets Talk About Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris on the iPhone, plus downloaded Stiff for my road trip next week.

Also got back into The Twelve, by Justin Cronin. It started poorly but has picked up. Really does have the feel of someone who was told to stretch the story into a trilogy instead of letting it occur organically, but the middle third has beeb much better than the first third.

[The Sybian]

Loved Stiff. The best of Mary Roach's books that I've read.

WLU, let me know what you think of the Hiaasen book. I used to love his work, but haven't read one in a long time. He creates the best characters and some really odd stories.

[Giff]

Loved Stiff. The best of Mary Roach's books that I've read.

WLU, let me know what you think of the Hiaasen book. I used to love his work, but haven't read one in a long time. He creates the best characters and some really odd stories.

Have you read Dorsey? May have been WLU that recommended him to me, but one of the quotes about him was something like "Elmore Leonard on meth, Carl Hiaasen on some other drug". I love 'em both.

[The Sybian]

Loved Stiff. The best of Mary Roach's books that I've read.

WLU, let me know what you think of the Hiaasen book. I used to love his work, but haven't read one in a long time. He creates the best characters and some really odd stories.

Have you read Dorsey? May have been WLU that recommended him to me, but one of the quotes about him was something like "Elmore Leonard on meth, Carl Hiaasen on some other drug". I love 'em both.

I'm in! Never read him before, but with that kind of description, sounds right up my alley. Thanks.

[wlu_lax6]

Dorsey is very solid. I would read them in order. The early stuff is so strange and fast.
http://www.timdorsey.com/chronology.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tim Dorsey is Carl Hiaasen on meth, Elmore Leonard on acid, Dave Barry on Drano.

This was the review that got me hooked

Some of the most wacky villains and situations since Hiaasen stuck a plastic alligator down a stranger’s throat and called it Tourist Season.

[howard]

Dave Barry on Drano probably still would not be funny. (But worth a try.)

[Bensell]

I finally read this after loaning it to my Mom to read after I bought it:



It was great; much better than her last effort The Little Friend.

[The Sybian]

I finally read this after loaning it to my Mom to read after I bought it:

It was great; much better than her last effort The Little Friend.

Have you read Secret History? My friend just made that his can't miss recommendation. He has been solid so far, so I have it in my queue.

[Bensell]

I finally read this after loaning it to my Mom to read after I bought it:

It was great; much better than her last effort The Little Friend.

Have you read Secret History? My friend just made that his can't miss recommendation. He has been solid so far, so I have it in my queue.

Secret History is one of my all-time favorite novels. If I had to rank books I've read it would easily make the top 2 or 3.

[The Sybian]

Have you read Secret History? My friend just made that his can't miss recommendation. He has been solid so far, so I have it in my queue.

Secret History is one of my all-time favorite novels. If I had to rank books I've read it would easily make the top 2 or 3.

Sweet. I thought I remembered people or person recommending it here. Just 36 more people in line in front of me!


I'm giving up on Stephen Hawking's book. I'm finding I'm just not that interested in quantum physics. When he got into some concept of firing buckyballs through two slits he lost me. I feel like quantum physics is more like philosophy than science.


Moving on to McCullogh's biography of Truman. Heard good things, and been sitting on it for way too long.

[BTTG]

I'm in the Epilogue of The Death of a President and I'm truly sad to be finished with it, such a brilliant read. The next Amazon order has:



Already started The Boys of '67 on my Kindle. My dad's 1st cousin is featured in it, as the conscientious objector who served as a medic in Charlie Company, so very interesting from that perspective.

[Pruitt]

Haven't finished a book in a while.

But I just tore through this one -

The older I get, the more I realize that I should just stick to certain types of books. Like this one - bitter, dark and really, really funny. Set in the present day, neurotic guy buys a farmhouse in a gentrifying rural town near the city. Finds out that Anne Frank is living in his attic.

A few laugh out loud scenes, and well worth a read.

[wlu_lax6]

WLU, let me know what you think of the Hiaasen book. I used to love his work, but haven't read one in a long time. He creates the best characters and some really odd stories.

The Hiaasen book is a collection of his op eds. More like his book Team Rodent than his fiction works.

[Bensell]

The first 50 or so pages of this have been very good:

[A_B]

I loved Gone Girl so I will defintiely be intersted in her other efforts.

Finished Stiff...that was a solid listen.

[Bensell]

I loved Gone Girl so I will defintiely be intersted in her other efforts.

Gone Girl was fantastic. I'm halfway through Sharp Objects now and will probably finish it tonight; well worth the read unless the book falls apart the last 100 pages or so.

[Giff]

What do y'all think about the casting for the Gone Girl movie?

[A_B]

I havent seen casting but it was such a great book it will be hard to live up to

[Bensell]

I havent seen casting but it was such a great book it will be hard to live up to

I don't know much about Rosamund Pike, and Ben Affleck can be really hit or miss, but anything with Neil Patrick Harris can't be all bad.

Sharp Objects was really good but not as near as good as Gone Girl. I have her other book, Dark Matters, on my wait list now.

[Giff]

I havent seen casting but it was such a great book it will be hard to live up to

I don't know much about Rosamund Pike, and Ben Affleck can be really hit or miss, but anything with Neil Patrick Harris can't be all bad.

Sharp Objects was really good but not as near as good as Gone Girl. I have her other book, Dark Matters, on my wait list now.

Yup, I'm very much looking forward to NPH. I pictured the husband much younger than Affleck, but I'm no hater and am interested to see how he does. I like me some Rosamund, so I like that casting.

[A_B]

Shakespeare bio by Bill Bryson. Already learned quite a bit that I was unaware of.

[Giff]

I grabbed four books from a friend's bookshelf a few weeks ago and halfway through them.

The Plague - Albert Camus
The Information - Martin Amis (awful, awful book, stayed up late during the Rockets blowout last night to be done with it)

Hoping to start/finish by end of weekend:

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh - Michael Chabon
Tropic of Cancer - Henry Miller

Then Dave Eggers' The Circle before I move on to more non-fiction in March.

[Rush2112]

Just finished An Unfortunate Woman by Richard Brautigan.

A memoir/novel set in diary entries. I tells the story of a woman that is suffering from cancer and her friend that committed suicide. Written just a couple of years before Brautigan's death I'd say its his ruminations on death and life itself.

[Bensell]

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh - Michael Chabon

Very good book, barely tolerable movie.

[Pruitt]

How did I not read this years ago?

[The Sybian]

Listening to Chuck Palahniuk's Choke right now. Not sure where this is going, but it is going to be a strange, strange trip.

[Scottie]

Speaking of Palahniuk . . . he's sort of writing a sequel to Fight Club http://chuckpalahniuk.net/books/fight-club-2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[P.D.X.]

Listening to Chuck Palahniuk's Choke right now. Not sure where this is going, but it is going to be a strange, strange trip.

One of his better ones, imho.

[The Sybian]

Listening to Chuck Palahniuk's Choke right now. Not sure where this is going, but it is going to be a strange, strange trip.

One of his better ones, imho.

My friend who has been pushing Chuck on me for years ranked Choke #2, and Lullaby #1. It's a bit strange, but I hear a lot of similarities in the writing to Pygmy. Wouldn't expect that, since Pygmy is written in the broken English of a presumably (my presumption) North Korean kid.

[Scottie]

My friend who has been pushing Chuck on me for years ranked Choke #2, and Lullaby #1. It's a bit strange, but I hear a lot of similarities in the writing to Pygmy. Wouldn't expect that, since Pygmy is written in the broken English of a presumably (my presumption) North Korean kid.

And it is because of that fundamental design flaw that Pygmy is a failure. The missives (or diary) would be written in the language of the totalitarian country rather than horrifically tortured English.

[P.D.X.]

My friend who has been pushing Chuck on me for years ranked Choke #2, and Lullaby #1. It's a bit strange, but I hear a lot of similarities in the writing to Pygmy. Wouldn't expect that, since Pygmy is written in the broken English of a presumably (my presumption) North Korean kid.

And it is because of that fundamental design flaw that Pygmy is a failure. The missives (or diary) would be written in the language of the totalitarian country rather than horrifically tortured English.

A book that his audience wouldn't be able to read at all certainly would've been more successful.

[The Sybian]

My friend who has been pushing Chuck on me for years ranked Choke #2, and Lullaby #1. It's a bit strange, but I hear a lot of similarities in the writing to Pygmy. Wouldn't expect that, since Pygmy is written in the broken English of a presumably (my presumption) North Korean kid.

And it is because of that fundamental design flaw that Pygmy is a failure. The missives (or diary) would be written in the language of the totalitarian country rather than horrifically tortured English.

A book that his audience wouldn't be able to read at all certainly would've been more successful.

Hey, it worked for Tolkien!

[P.D.X.]

Hey, it worked for Tolkien!

But totally missed out on character names like Most Esteemed Madame Funbags.

[Scottie]

A book that his audience wouldn't be able to read at all certainly would've been more successful.

What? Like Finnegans Wake?

Don't get me wrong, I like Palahniuk. It's just that Pygmy is too fundamentally flawed. The reader has to suspend their disbelief too much and throughout. It's sort of the opposite of the original Star Trek series where the viewer accepts that no matter what planet the spaceship people land on they find that everyone inhabiting it miraculously speaks perfect English as their mother tongue yet have never heard of Earth. With Pygmy it is the yang to the ying of that. You have to believe that the protagonist cannot speak his own mother tongue nor can anyone back in his home country for whom the communication is meant. I didn't say the novel isn't any good (it is), just that the very premise is flawed. And by that I mean the "style premise" rather than the situational premise.

Style premise. Hmm. I like that.

[The Sybian]

A book that his audience wouldn't be able to read at all certainly would've been more successful.

What? Like Finnegans Wake?

Don't get me wrong, I like Palahniuk. It's just that Pygmy is too fundamentally flawed. The reader has to suspend their disbelief too much and throughout. It's sort of the opposite of the original Star Trek series where the viewer accepts that no matter what planet the spaceship people land on they find that everyone inhabiting it miraculously speaks perfect English as their mother tongue yet have never heard of Earth. With Pygmy it is the yang to the ying of that. You have to believe that the protagonist cannot speak his own mother tongue nor can anyone back in his home country for whom the communication is meant. I didn't say the novel isn't any good (it is), just that the very premise is flawed. And by that I mean the "style premise" rather than the situational premise.

Style premise. Hmm. I like that.

I kind of imagined the book as a poorly translated version of his writing in his native tongue. Easier to do when listening to the audiobook.

[P.D.X.]

A book that his audience wouldn't be able to read at all certainly would've been more successful.

What? Like Finnegans Wake?

Don't get me wrong, I like Palahniuk. It's just that Pygmy is too fundamentally flawed. The reader has to suspend their disbelief too much and throughout. It's sort of the opposite of the original Star Trek series where the viewer accepts that no matter what planet the spaceship people land on they find that everyone inhabiting it miraculously speaks perfect English as their mother tongue yet have never heard of Earth. With Pygmy it is the yang to the ying of that. You have to believe that the protagonist cannot speak his own mother tongue nor can anyone back in his home country for whom the communication is meant. I didn't say the novel isn't any good (it is), just that the very premise is flawed. And by that I mean the "style premise" rather than the situational premise.

Style premise. Hmm. I like that.

I think he was trying to keep Pygmy's exact nationality ambiguous as well — just a cat from some run-of-the-mill totalitarian state. As soon as a language is used, you know where he's from. Then it becomes directly political, which I imagine CP was trying to avoid.

[Jerloma]

New app claims you'll be able to read novels in 90 minutes. I can do the 350/minute but certainly not the 500. Supposedly some people are over 1000 with it.

[howard]

If comprehension actually is equal or improved, this could be really huge. I don't mean making lots of money huge--changing the way we study and read huge. Fascinating.

Bryan Cranston was on Stern the other day, talking about his apprehension at learning hundreds of pages of lines for his first Broadway show. He spoke of how weirdly automatic the process was; he felt as if the amount of memorization was impossible, yet cramming ten new pages each day, day after day, magically the lines stuck in his brain.

A lot of things we have yet to figure out about how this thing works, my second-favorite organ.

[brian]

I didn't have any trouble with the 500. And I realize I'm probably starting to become an old fogey, but seems like something like that would kinda take the "fun" out of reading. Isn't the whole idea that it's supposed to be a leisure activity? Have we as a society really become all consumed with doing stuff hella fast?