what are you reading?

janeray1940, my problem is cataracts and glare problems. I had some very exciting rides before I quit driving at night.
My wife drives, but not on the freeways anymore. The freeways here are too hectic. Everything we need is close by, but we use a freeway if necessary. We go to Camp Pendleton four times a year.

Yes, I know about Island Bazaar, but most of their meetings are at night. They do have a couple during the day though. I've been playing music by myself for a long time. I'm kind of a loner anyway. :eek:ld:
 
Last edited:
Yes, I know about Island Bazaar, but most of their meetings are at night. They do have a couple during the day though. I've been playing music by myself for a long time. I'm kind of a loner anyway. :eek:ld:

Right, I thought they had some daytime or early evening (5pm?) groups - it's been a while since I've been down that way though. I'm a bit of a loner myself but have to say there is something really fun about playing in a group, and also it's good in that you really have to pay attention to rhythm (whether strumming or more advanced playing) when playing with others in ways that you don't when solo. So if you can find a group, I do recommend it. There's a social aspect to it, but for those like myself who are a little... less than social, there's always enough playing to make it worthwhile.

And the glare problems! Yep, I have them too. What can ya do...
 
janeray1940, we've been pretty far off the subject for a whole page! But you're correct, playing with a group could be a good thing. I should have joined a community band /orchestra when I retired. Also, I went to college after I retired, and I should have majored in music but chickened out and didn't --Ahhh well, water over the dam.

But we really oughta talk about books. I think I remember that you like Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. I've read all of his books. Have you read any of his others? We even visited his home and library. There, I got us back on the subject! :eek:ld:
 
janeray1940, we've been pretty far off the subject for a whole page! But you're correct, playing with a group could be a good thing. I should have joined a community band /orchestra when I retired. Also, I went to college after I retired, and I should have majored in music but chickened out and didn't --Ahhh well, water over the dam.

But we really oughta talk about books. I think I remember that you like Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. I've read all of his books. Have you read any of his others? We even visited his home and library. There, I got us back on the subject! :eek:ld:

Well done :) Although personally I'm not bothered by off-topic much; this thread grew from exactly that elsewhere. It it prompts an interesting discussion, it's all good.

I was a late-comer to college as well - didn't start until I was 30, and liked it well enough to go back for grad school.

I've read every last one of Steinbeck's books, some more than once. My absolute favorite is The Wayward Bus; actually it's tied with Travels with Charley, which is a travel memoir rather than fiction. Both seem to be lesser-known and I can't quite figure out why.
 
janeray1940, yeah, I've read all of them at LEAST (I don't know how to underline) twice. The Wayward Bus was terrific, but I thought "Travels with Charley" was only ok. Did you read his King Arthur? His only bomb I guess. My copy had his writing diary in it, and he seemed to be uncertain with what he was writing. He had a hard time with it. Writing a novel is very difficult. Sometimes you wonder how you could even attempt it, but something just drives you to go on.

I really got into one of my short stories (I like them best.) and spent most of an afternoon on one paragraph, getting it just right. But it was really fun. If you're wondering, no I'm not published. My novel was written in lieu of a Master's Thesis. It was good enough for the University's English Department but not for the publishers I sent it to.
Well, "so it goes" (like Vonnegut?). :eek:ld:
 
The Wayward Bus was terrific, but I thought "Travels with Charley" was only ok. Did you read his King Arthur? His only bomb I guess. My copy had his writing diary in it, and he seemed to be uncertain with what he was writing. He had a hard time with it. Writing a novel is very difficult. Sometimes you wonder how you could even attempt it, but something just drives you to go on.

I did read King Arthur... back when I was maybe 16 or so. Never felt compelled to pick it up again so I'd have to agree with your assessment of it!

As for Travels with Charley - I'm a sucker for "person sets off alone to find..." (something? themselves? the secrets of the universe??) stories. I've read it so many times I've lost count!
 
Well, janeray1940, different strokes for different folks I guess. I can't write anymore. We gotta go for our walk now. Catch ya later. :eek:ld:
 
Well, janeray1940' we're back. I was gonna mention "Of Mice and Men". That was another of my favorites, and the movie with Lon Chaney was every bit as good. Speaking of that, I thought "East of Eden" was high so-so, but the movie with James Dean was terrific.

Do you like Michener? Maybe my all time favorite and many times read book is his "The Source". He wrote so many good books and so very few bad (in my opinion) ones. One can start a Michener book or story a stand a pretty good chance of having a good read. :eek:ld:
 
Currently, Lord of the Flies -William Golding

It's about the 17th time I'm reading it, 18 if you count my own high school experience :)
 
Well, janeray1940' we're back. I was gonna mention "Of Mice and Men". That was another of my favorites, and the movie with Lon Chaney was every bit as good. Speaking of that, I thought "East of Eden" was high so-so, but the movie with James Dean was terrific.

Do you like Michener? Maybe my all time favorite and many times read book is his "The Source". He wrote so many good books and so very few bad (in my opinion) ones. One can start a Michener book or story a stand a pretty good chance of having a good read. :eek:ld:

You know, you're the second person to reference the Lon Chaney "Of Mice and Men" to me recently - I've seen the much later version (1980s?) but never that one. That was the first book by Steinbeck that I read, and the one that prompted me to read his other books. Definitely a favorite. East of Eden was... somewhere in the middle for me. I did see the film, ages ago, and have always wanted to see it again, but only on a big screen as it was intended.

I've never read Michener. Maybe that will be next summer's reading goal, although from the looks of my copy of Hawaii that's been sitting unread on the shelves for years, I think I'll need to invest in the large-print editions! :)
 
Might as well update my "currently reading":

HG Wells, The Time Machine (to be followed by The Invisible Man)
Joan Didion, Play it As it Lays (about to abandon it, I love her essays but can't say the same for her fiction - sorry, Joan)
Peter Heller, Kook
 
Joan Didian, eck! What a downer. I started it in college but dropped it and read something else.

I read "Hawaii" this spring, but didn't care for it. It was too long, and I think "padded". It rambled, and I hated most of the characters. It and "Afganistan" we're "the few" that I didn't care for so much.

Unless, a novel is a can't-put-downer, I think I'd rather read short stories. They don't mess around with a bunch of extranious stuff, they come right to the point, cover it, and close the story down. One of my favorites is Jack London's "To Build A Fire" ( the long version)--very exciting. Steinbeck wrote some good ones too, as did Michener.

I asked you before. Do you like Kurt Vonnigut? I read a lot of his books in college. I had a professor who really liked him, so we talked about him a lot. Well, have a good rest of the night. Later. :eek:ld:
 
Joan Didian, eck! What a downer. I started it in college but dropped it and read something else.

I read "Hawaii" this spring, but didn't care for it. It was too long, and I think "padded". It rambled, and I hated most of the characters. It and "Afganistan" we're "the few" that I didn't care for so much.

Unless, a novel is a can't-put-downer, I think I'd rather read short stories. They don't mess around with a bunch of extranious stuff, they come right to the point, cover it, and close the story down. One of my favorites is Jack London's "To Build A Fire" ( the long version)--very exciting. Steinbeck wrote some good ones too, as did Michener.

I asked you before. Do you like Kurt Vonnigut? I read a lot of his books in college. I had a professor who really liked him, so we talked about him a lot. Well, have a good rest of the night. Later. :eek:ld:

You just hit on my biggest obstacle when it comes to fiction (books AND movies, for that matter) - hating the characters! That's the problem I'm having with Didion right now. It's just so hard for me to get caught up in the details about someone who I just plain don't like.

Haven't read much Jack London since I was a kid - as a native Californian who loved reading about the gold rush, it was almost required reading! Definitely one I should revisit.

As for Vonnegut - a not-very-good professor in college made us read Slaughterhouse Five, and I just remember being very, very confused! It didn't motivate me to seek out any of his other work, but to be fair, I think my issue may have been with the professor (talk about a character I didn't like!) and not the author. So I should probably revisit Vonnegut at some point as well.

And I go in cycles with short stories. Sometimes it's all I have the attention span for; other times I just want to get lost in a book.
 
janeray1940, you're a native Californian? So am I. I was born in San Diego. What about you?

Do you like poetry? I write a little now and again--mostly silly stuff. I either throw it away or put it somewhere I can't find. I think you said you like Ogden Nash, i also like him and Edward Lear too. Are you familiar with Dr. Seuss? I usta read him to my kids a long time ago. I would like to write poetry like his, but of course everyone would say I'm copying him. I've tried to write serious or mushy stuff and even tried religious stuff, but I just don't have it in me. Well--Later. :eek:ld:
 
As usual, there's always something from my two favorite authors, W.E.B. Griffin (and Butterworth's other pen-names) and G. K. Chesterton, always on the coffee table at the ready.
 
janeray1940, you're a native Californian? So am I. I was born in San Diego. What about you?

Do you like poetry? I write a little now and again--mostly silly stuff. I either throw it away or put it somewhere I can't find. I think you said you like Ogden Nash, i also like him and Edward Lear too. Are you familiar with Dr. Seuss? I usta read him to my kids a long time ago. I would like to write poetry like his, but of course everyone would say I'm copying him. I've tried to write serious or mushy stuff and even tried religious stuff, but I just don't have it in me. Well--Later. :eek:ld:

Born in San Francisco, spent the first 15 years of my life sort of circling the Pacific Ocean with my wanderlusting parents, settled in Los Angeles/Santa Monica at 16 and haven't left since. That was a lot of years ago :)

I'm not well-read when it comes to poetry at all - I know little to nothing about it aside from the sort of punk-rock poetry movement we had locally back in the 1980s (lots of local musicians who did readings; did a few myself). And I grew up completely ignorant of Dr Seuss! My parents pretty much sheltered me from anything aimed specifically at kids, as they felt it was dumbed down. Little did they know that some of it was of such great quality.
 
janeray1940, you seem to read pretty good books. Do you read a lot? I don't read much any more. Sometimes I make myself read something because I think I should. I think that, over all these years of reading, I've read myself out. But I'm doing better now than I was before. My wife reads mysterys a lot. She was a teacher/librarian. Well, later. :eek:ld:
 
janeray1940, you seem to read pretty good books. Do you read a lot? I don't read much any more. Sometimes I make myself read something because I think I should. I think that, over all these years of reading, I've read myself out. But I'm doing better now than I was before. My wife reads mysterys a lot. She was a teacher/librarian. Well, later. :eek:ld:

I don't read nearly as much as I once did - between the day job and my music stuff there just aren't enough hours. I try to allot myself an hour every evening but it doesn't always work out that way. It probably seems like I read a lot because I'm a fast reader - college and graduate school ruined me that way, having to read so much on deadline, that even now I find myself rushing through everything.

I have a master's in library science but doubt that I'll ever be able to afford to work in a library - jobs are few and far between, and most are part-time without benefits. I always make the joke to people that if they love books, absolutely DO NOT go into library science, as it has so little to do with books now. But I'm a bit bitter that way :)
 
Janeray1940, Ha! Library Science was my first major too, but the school where I went moved to UCLA (I think), so I switched to English. I wanted to major in music, but I was already an old guy and was afraid the young bucks would show me up. what a dummy! I think I was still playing Cornet then, and I was some rusty on it.

I'm a slow reader, but, when I'm done, I know the color of the guys shirt, the kind of cigarette he was smoking, etc, etc, etc. Actually, I do everything slow. I'm known for my slowness; people make comments--so it goes. Later.:eek:ld:
 
I hate to interrupt. Don't you hate it when some rat interrupts a good talk. It's like when we are eating steamers down at Lassiter's and some fella reading the newspaper won't mind his own business and has to say something. He's just a kid, yet the fella just couldn't keep his trap shut. That's the crazy thing about guys that eat alone in seafood places--they can't keep their goddam traps shut. I wish Mr. Lassiter would beat him up, I really do. But even I know that the fella eats about five dollars worth of clams each time, and Mr. Lassiter would go broke if he smashed the fella's nose. So that's probably why the fella can say whatever he wants.

When Kenneth went into the ocean--you know, the one with all the bowling balls--did he swallow too much water or something? I mean, that's what happens right, in an ocean like that, right? Even if he keeps his mouth closed, the water, it's all salty and gets bowled right in there, seaweed and all. Is that it? I don't get it, to be honest. I know that Holden made it home from camp after not singing with that rat fink and all, but why he conveniently was there when Kenneth ate the bowling balls makes no sense. It kills me sometime to think about it. It just makes no sense. I thought Allie wrote poems on his glove, not Kenneth. And Allie died from cancer, not a mouthful of bowling balls. It's crazy, is all. Flat crazy.
 
Top Bottom