what are you reading?

[janeray1940]

I "threatened" to start this thread a while back when a discussion between coolkayaker1 and myself went waaaaaaay off topic into a couple of works by Haruki Murakami, whose latest was just released last week.

So - me first! Currently:

Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage
H.G. Wells - War of the Worlds
Joan Didion - After Henry

Looking forward to hearing from others who somehow, miraculously, manage from time to time to set down their ukes long enough to read something.

 

[Steedy]

I recently finished Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, and am now reading The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. "All for one, one for all!"

 

[Concertina]

The Count of Monte Cristo is my all time favorite Steedy!

I'm currently at the end of A Storm of Swords and I'm trying to decide if I want to just jump into the next GoT or dip into the giant stack of books I amassed while reading these monstrosities.

 

[AKuker]

Bodyguard of Lies by Anthony Brown. Next is probably Homage to Catalonia by Orwell.

Good thread, thx!

 

[actadh]

Started the Last Templar series by Michael Jeck.

 

[aquadan]

I'm 2/3rds of the way through Hawaii by James Michener. The uke and Portuguese immigrants were mentioned in a throwaway sentence, so I fear that's all I'm going to get on the subject. Still a very enjoyable read though.

 

[VegasGeorge]

Fighting the summer heat here in Las Vegas, I've been reading "Panzer Warfare on the Eastern Front," by Hans Schaufler. Talk about freezing your a** off!

 

[Fred Ukestone]

Dan Simmons 'Ilium' (I recently finished his 'Hyperion' and 'Fall of Hyperion' - my favorite SF writer)
'Folk, The Essential Album Guide' (musicHound)

 

[wickedwahine11]

The Count of Monte Cristo is my all time favorite Steedy!

I'm currently at the end of A Storm of Swords and I'm trying to decide if I want to just jump into the next GoT or dip into the giant stack of books I amassed while reading these monstrosities.

I have a side job working for a publishing company, so often times I am reading those books, but when I can read whatever I want, it is usually escapist thrillers -- James Patterson, Gone Girl, that kind of mind candy. Right now I am reading the second book in the Game of Thrones series, Clash of Kings. I'm trying very carefully not to get ahead of the tv show and heard it is safe to read through the fourth book since it is about a book a season. Did Storm of Swords basically match up to the third season of the show?

 

[coolkayaker1]

I'm 2/3rds of the way through Hawaii by James Michener. The uke and Portuguese immigrants were mentioned in a throwaway sentence, so I fear that's all I'm going to get on the subject. Still a very enjoyable read though.

I tried that one, aquadan, many years ago, but that teensy-weensy print, the mammoth size of the paperback, and the first few chapters about tribal warriors sunk me. LOL You are a better person than I if you are 2/3rds into it. Thumbs up.

 

[coolkayaker1]

Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage

Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage

Finished it early last week, and looking forward to your mini-review here once you (and your friend) read it, JR40. Very interested to get your take on it. I will reserve my opinion until you've read it and developed some thoughts. Can use this thread for mutual reads (maybe Aquadan will be up for DFW's Infinite Jest with me after his Michener's Hawaii) and reviews (this may be the next thread with eternal legs, like Jokes You Wish You Told).

I've never read anything by the well-regarded Joan Didion. I should.

I'm now reading Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It which is an absolute delight (and mandatory reading for any fly fisherman). The writing is tight and lovely in every regard. The movie was good, too, but I prefer books. Wondering what others think in that regard (e.g. Staci mentions Gone Girl, which comes out in theaters in October, 2014, I believe)

I'm read-walking lately, and it is going swimmingly. What a great way to exercise and read. No iPod, don't even miss it.

I agree, good thread, JR40.

 

[janeray1940]

Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage

Finished it early last week, and looking forward to your mini-review here once you (and your friend) read it, JR40. Very interested to get your take on it. I will reserve my opinion until you've read it and developed some thoughts. Can use this thread for mutual reads (maybe Aquadan will be up for DFW's Infinite Jest with me after his Michener's Hawaii) and reviews (this may be the next thread with eternal legs, like Jokes You Wish You Told).

I've never read anything by the well-regarded Joan Didion. I should.

I'm now reading Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It which is an absolute delight (and mandatory reading for any fly fisherman). The writing is tight and lovely in every regard. The movie was good, too, but I prefer books. Wondering what others think in that regard (e.g. Staci mentions Gone Girl, which comes out in theaters in October, 2014, I believe)

I'm read-walking lately, and it is going swimmingly. What a great way to exercise and read. No iPod, don't even miss it.

I agree, good thread, JR40.

I finished the Murakami last night! It was a fast read for me and I really enjoyed it. My mini-review: it was about dreams, death, and alienation, what's not to like? I think there will be more Murakami in my future; this one and 1Q84 are the only two I've read and they were both good. But it gets me down that my Japanese isn't good enough to read them in the original; I run into awkwardness in the translations from time to time which makes me wonder how much English-language readers may be missing.

Joan Didion's White Album and Slouching Towards Bethlehem were favorites of mine when I was in my early twenties; I decided it was time to re-read them earlier this summer and that got me on to the goal of reading all of her works. Much of her writing may only resonate with someone who is really connected with the places she writes about - Los Angeles, Malibu, San Francisco, and Hawaii, all places I've spent time, as well as New York, where I've never been but have always liked reading about. I've never read any of her fiction, but am about to start Play it As it Lays, which I tried to make it through years ago and just couldn't. This time I plan to stick with it.

 

[janeray1940]

I recently finished Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, and am now reading The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. "All for one, one for all!"

The Count of Monte Cristo is my all time favorite Steedy!

Funny thing about those three titles; in high school I had both my best and worst English classes. The *bad* one - because the teacher just *hated* me and always picked on me, and I had no love for her either - had all three of those titles for required reading. I don't think I read a single one, and I failed the class.

The *good* class turned me on to Hemingway, Steinbeck, Mishima, and a few that I've probably forgotten. Steinbeck remains my favorite writer to this day. And while I remember very little about the teacher, I do know he treated everyone fairly and equally and brought a lot of enthusiasm to his teaching.

Goes to show what a difference that can make!

I'm 2/3rds of the way through Hawaii by James Michener. The uke and Portuguese immigrants were mentioned in a throwaway sentence, so I fear that's all I'm going to get on the subject. Still a very enjoyable read though.

I tried that one, aquadan, many years ago, but that teensy-weensy print, the mammoth size of the paperback, and the first few chapters about tribal warriors sunk me. LOL You are a better person than I if you are 2/3rds into it. Thumbs up.

Michener's Hawaii has been sitting unread on my bookshelf for years for those very reasons. Maybe I need the large print edition

 

[Newportlocal]

Typee by Herman Melville.

 

[kvehe]

It's been a month of escapist crime fiction - I read all 17 of Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder novels. Now that Elizabeth Drew's Washington Journal is available for the Kindle, I'm going back to it tonight. I started re-reading it (hard-back edition) in the late spring/early summer, but was put off by the teeny tiny print. I even bought a magnifying glass, but that was just too cumbersome.

 

[fynger]

.....this thread

 

[Down Up Dick]

I read Michener's "Hawaii" this spring, and then "The Music Lesson" by Victor Wooten. Now i'm reading through "The Beatles A Hard Days's Write" by Steve Turner. I don't read a lot any more, because I've read so much in the past. I'm kinda read out now. I usually read magazines or Louis L'Amour, but I don't have any now. ld:

 

[aquadan]

I tried that one, aquadan, many years ago, but that teensy-weensy print, the mammoth size of the paperback, and the first few chapters about tribal warriors sunk me. LOL You are a better person than I if you are 2/3rds into it. Thumbs up.

I'm reading it on the iPad so text size and weight isn't an issue. I got the hardcover at a library sale last year, but it was just too daunting to ever start.

Usually I get my books from the iBooks store $3.99 or less section as occasionally great books show up. Next up for me is Paul Thereoux's 'My Other Life'.

 

[GinnyT11]

I loved The Count of Monte Cristo, as well as The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

I'm now reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz. It's a breezy, hip story set in the Dominican Republic in the time of the bloody dictator Trujillo and later in New Jersey. It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

I always read the actual books, preferably hardbacks from the library. I like the way books feel in my hands, and I can go back and find a previous mention of something.

 

[janeray1940]

I always read the actual books, preferably hardbacks from the library. I like the way books feel in my hands, and I can go back and find a previous mention of something.

Same here. Staring at a computer screen all day long to earn a living really makes me want to stare at...anything not made of pixels when I get home Although I do use the Kindle iPhone app for unexpected downtime reading, but I can't imagine reading a whole book that way.